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Ancient Landmarks 
of Pembroke 



By 
Henry Wheatland Litchfield 



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<S[amt back to t\}t golbcn l^thbc 
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®f I|tr utljo ^oct^) tl)i; gocing uicepe 
(Byf tljc morlb prouc Ijaralj anb coih 
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PEMBROKE 
GEORGE EDWARD LEWIS 

1909 






Copyright, 1910, by 

GEORGE EDWARD LEWIS 



CC!.A27839'J 



TO MY FATHER 

AND MOTHER 

HER LOVE FOR PEMBROKE 

PROMPTED THESE PAPERS 

HIS HELP MADE POSSIBLE 

THEIR EXECUTION 



Ancient Landmarks of Pembroke 

Not many among the outlying towns of Massachusetts 
possess histories more interesting or significant than that of 
the Town of Pembroke in the Old Colony. It is a history 
which, promising little at the outset, rewards study by 
disclosing persons and events of a character to win lasting 
admiration from the student, and lead him on engrossed from 
point to point until, if there is to be any end at all of 
his research, he must despair of attaining to a con- 
venient stoppingplace, and breaking short off in the 
midst, leave half told their story — I at least have found them 
such. The series of papers printed in this book, at first in- 
diiding but nine Landmarks, has grown to include fifteen; 
each of these is longer than its predecessor in order of 
writing; and the ancient houses and sites of Pembroke whose 
annals remain unread by me, but well worth reading, are yet 
legion. The '^I'averns in High Street; the dwellings of Deacon 
Isaac Hatch, Judge Turner, Dr. Jeremiah Hall, and Capt. 
Alexander Parris; Wallis Orchard and Pe(ter's Spring; 
Sabbaday Orchard; the Mills on Herring Brook, and the 
Furnace at Furnace Pond ; Hobomoc, or Devil, Pond with 
its strange legend, Oldham or Monument Pond, and 
Indian Bridge close by; Ward or Hart Hill; Ludden's Ford; 
Queen's Brook : and many others in Hanson, dating from the 
days when all that region was western Pembroke : have in 
these papers been briefly mentioned, or not at all. Chief 
tiinong my sins of omission, I know well, are the famous 
Magoun houses in northern and eastern Pembroke, of which 
the oldest, now known as the homestead of Luther Magoun, 
is said to have been erected in Schoosett — then Scituate Two- 
mile — by his ancestor John Magoun during the year 1666. 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS 

No further statement, of course, is needed to show that this 
book does not even pretend to be exhaustive. I wish I might 
hope that ineompleteneiss were its greatest fault. 

Visitors to the place have told me that in summer Pembroke 
is at her best. I should like to make an amendment to their 
saying, and read with them summer indeed, but Indian 
summer. Vfalking eastward from the Ponds toward Highgary 
in the late afternoon or early evening of an October day, past 
quiet farmhouses, through fields of yellow corn shot across by 
the level sunbeams, and dim woods rich with the perfume of 
wild grapes, you come suddenly out upon a hillcrest, marked 
by tufts of dry poverty grass and a score of rugged pinetrees, 
overlooking Namassakeesett, the Brook and the River, the 
meadows and forests and ancient clearings which line their 
courses, and shade off into a blue haze on the distant slopes. 
There is stillness unbroken — for the rustling grass and whis- 
pering pines do not break it; off at the left, a dash of gold 
and scarlet shows on the maples below Dancing Hill; 
presently, across the common, comes pealing down from the 
belfry the first stroke of six, calling the village to supper, and 
heralding approach of the evening. As you descend the hill, 
the dust of its ancient thoroughfare is sprinkled over with 
pale leaves from the balm-of-Gilead : the mellow air seems 
peopled by shades of Indian scout and runner, sachem and 
sagamore ; rough English pioneers ; clergymen and magistrates 
of the Puritans ; colonial squire and Revolutionary captain ; 
friends of later years, now missed these many Sunday morn- 
ings from the family pew in the Meetiiig House; and all the 
throng of those who in succession passed that way: and a 
twilight of the olden time steals upon you, in which centuries 
are blended together, and the yesterdays become todays. If 
any of that light shines through these pages; or if the record 
which they contain, enables anv to make for himself an 
Indian summer of his own : my purpose in writing them will 
have been achieved. 

Although it follows from my confession, that I have cared 
more for point of view than for objective facts, still a 



OF PEMBEOKE 

considerable nuniber of these was essential, as a framework 
en which to base the whole. I have tried to be exact in 
presenting them, and to attain accuracy in details. All dates 
are inclusive. All previous to 14 September 1752, are Old 
Style, unless otherwise stated: but even before that time, I 
have reckoned the year as begiTmiug on January 1, rather 
than on March 25 ; retaining however double dates, when 
those appeared in the original. All ambiguous cases I have 
decided according to probability, and if necessary, translated. 
In determining sites, my description even now gives little 
help, and will after a time become quite useless : the defect is 
supplied in a map of Mattakeesett ; on which — so far as its 
scope allowed — have been represented roughly, with some 
slight deviations from his plan, the results of Mr. Tillson's 
surve3^s of Marshfield Upper Lands, the Thousand Acres, the 
Massachusetts Path, and Duxbury Commons. 

Necessary for a good understanding of the map, and 
important in itself as matter of general interest, is a 
loiowledge of the changes in jurisdiction through which has 
passed the territory included within the Towii of Pesmbroke 
daring the period of its widest extent, the years 1754-1820. 
This territory lay entirely within the jurisdiction of the 
('olony Court of Plymouth Colony, from the establishment 
of that Court by the royal charter of 1629, until its absorption 
in the General Court of the Province of Massachusetts Bay. 
Duxbury was incorporated in 1637 : in 1641 its northerly 
bound was fixed at the North River: and its westerly bound, 
at the Massachusetts Path. In 1658, the Court ordered "that 
such persons as live at Namassakeesett, on the lands as were 
grannted to the townsmen of Duxburrow, shall appertaine to 
the towne of Duxburrow." Namassakeesett — the country 
lying just west of the Path — was in 1661 made part of a 
grant to Duxbury and Marshfield in common. The Major's 
Purchase, comprising the central and southerly part of what 
is now Hanson, was negotiated in 1662 by Major Josiah 
Winslow. In his deed of this land, the chief Wampatuck 
expressly reserved for the Indians' use a tract of one thousand 



ANCIENT LANDMAEKS 

acres borderiiie: on Hevring Ponds. Piixlmry and Marslifield 
divided their holding in 1698, thus giving rise to Naniassa- 
keesett proper — thenceforth a part of Duxbury — and the 
Marshfield Upper Lands. These werei united with northern 
Duxbury and the Purchase, in the new town of Pembrokt, 
incorporated 1713. A precinct including parts of Pembroke, 
Halifax, Bridgewater, Abington, and Hanover, and styled the 
Vest Precinct of Pembroke, was erected in 1746: in 1754 the 
entire area of this precinct was made part of Pembroke; and 
remained such until its incorporation, as the Town of 
Hanson, in 1820. Since that year, toAvnship boundaries in 
this neighborhood have not been materially changed. 

The appearance of these papers in permanent form is due 
to the suggestion and encouragement of several persons, 
chiefly of Nathaniel Morton, Esquire, whose contribution of 
historical matter should also be acknowledged, and to the 
enterprise of their publisher. 1 take this opportunity to thank 
him sincerely for undertaking what is at best a doubtful 
venture; for sparing no pains to make the book perfact in 
text and illustration ; and for receiving with uniform patience 
the many additions, changes, and corrections which have dis- 
figured its first draft from time to time. Nearly all thq 
landscapes are from photographs of his own taking; and he 
has made no account of expense or labor in reproducing 
several fine old likenesses, which, by tha courtesy of their 
possessors, we were permitted to use. 

Between September of 1906 and September of 1908, many 
discoveries have widened our knowledge of Pembroke history. 
These have induced me to write for the book several new 
chapters, and have made necessary a thorough revision of 
all. I wish each succeeding year may expose as many of their 
shortcomings as the last has exposed. 

Material for the articles has been taken, in most cases 
without express acknowledgement, from Dr. Francis Colla- 
laore's History of Pembroke; Dr. Barker Newhall's Barker 
Family; Miss Hannah Barker's manuscript; Eev. T. P. 
Doggett's Allen Memorial; Barr/s History of Hanover; the 



OF PEMBROKE 

series of articles entitled Sketches of the History of Pembroke, 
I)vepared by Rev. Morrill Allen from material collected by 
Dr. Anthony Collamore; Farnhani's Whitman Family; the 
History of (he Dudley Family; Dr. CoUaraore's article on the 
Quaker Meeting House; Aaron Hobart's History of Abington; 
Rev. Morrill Vllen's last sermon; and Miss Susan A. Smith's 
Smith Memorial: they are, however, based principally on 
town and parish records, on wills and deads preserved at 
Plymouth, on private records and tradition. For the last, I 
am indebted to the kindness of many persons. During the 
summer of 1906 I had occasion, while in search of facts 
contributorv to these Landmarks, to visit nearly every house 
then standing within the limits of ancient Pembroke: I think 
it strong testimony to the pride of Pembroke and Hanson 
people in the history of their town, as well as to their 
gentleness of character, that by everyone — a single person 
excepted — my inquiries were received with courtesy, and in 
li'ost cases with interest. I wish to thank sincerely each of my 
friends who have helped and encouraged me in this work. 
Especial acknowledgement is due of the assistance which I 
had from Miss Elizabeth H. Beals of Pembroke in the reading 
of proofs — a labor rendered the more tedious and exacting by 
u multitude of corrections disfiguring the manuscript — 
throughout all of which unfailing patience, and quick 
accuracy and good judgment, made her help of the greatest 
value. For generously opening to me their libraries and 
manuscript files, and — not least — their memories, my thanks 
are due especially to Dr. Francis Collamore, Pembroke's first 
methodical historian; to Mr. Mercer V. Tillson of Hanson, 
authority on the ancient divisions of her territory; to Mrs. 
Sarah E. Bosworth, whose collections — the work of a lifetime 
— are a herald's office for this and neighboring towns ; and to 
Miss Susan A. Smith, formerly of N'orth Pembroke, now pre- 
paring in Kingston the long expected History of Pembroke. 
1 should make a further and particular acknowledgement of 
Miss Smith's contributions to the tenth Landmark. She 
supplied me with the facts concerning Esquire Keen's 



ANCIENT LANDMAEKS OF PEMBEOKE 

aiicestr)% marriage, and descendants ; with the record of 
several transfers of his estate ; and with the memorahle 
Petition, which throngli her kindness I have been enabled to 
present in full. Thus it will be seen clearly that the portion 
of this paper which treats of Josiah Keen and his family, is 
hers in fact, mine only in name. To the same account should 
be accredited a paragraph tracing the Massachusetts' royal 
family, which I ventured to insert as a foretaste of the richer 
treatment already undertaken by Miss Smith. My acknowl- 
edgeanent Avould be but a grudging admission, did I fail to 
iuention also, generally speaking, the chief inspiration to 
students of T'embroke history of which her work upon, and 
interest in, that subject have been the source. 



10 



Landmarks 



I. The Old Garrison 19 

II. The Salmond House 29 

III. Allen Farm 35 

IV. The Little Estate 41 
V. The Judge Whitman House 55 

VI. The Burton Homestead 67 

VII. Herring Brook and the Herring 75 

VIII. The Friends' Meeting House 89 

IX. The Anthony Collamore Estate 95 

X. The Squire Keen Mansion and 

Oldham Farms 101 

XI. The Deacon Whitman Homestead 119 

XII. The Common 137 

XIII. The Burying Ground 147 

XIV. The Town Clock and its Neighbors 161 
XV. The First Church in Pembroke 171 



Illustrations 



The Sachems' Point at Furnace Pond 1 

Mattakeesett 16 

The Old Garrison 19 

The Barker House from the Fields 22 

The Last of the Barkers 27 

The Salmond House 29 

The Reverend Morrill Allen 35 

Allen Farm at Dancing Hill 38 

The Third North River Bridge 41 

The Barker Mill 44 

Brimstone Corner : the Tavern and the Bay Path 47 

The Little Estate 51 

The Judge Whitman House 55 

The William Cushing House 56 

Mrs. Frances Gay Hersey 61 

Oldham or Monument Pond 65 

The Burton Homestead and the Union Store 67 

Mr. Isaac Jennings 69 
Great Herring or Furnace Pond, and the Graves 

of the Kings 76 

Herring Brook: the Weir 82 

The Friends' Meeting House 89 

The Friends' Meeting House: Interior 91 

The Anthony Collamore Estate 95 

David Oldham Esquire 101 

The Squire Keen Mansion 102 

Oldham Manor from the South 110 

The Indian Fields 113 

Monument Island in Oldham Pond 117 

The Turner Buttonwoods 119 
The King's Highway and the Later Home of Dr. 

Jeremiah Hall 125 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

Deacon Seth Whitman 129 

The Common at Pembroke 137 

Indian Bridge 139 

The Old Stone Pound 140 

The Burying Ground at Pembroke 147 

Mr. Henry Baker 161 

The Third Meeting House 171 

The Elijah Cushing House 176 



14 




Mattakeesett 



Scale: 4200 feet to one inch 



Key to the Map 



1. 


Friends' Meeting, House 


37. 


James Bonney 


2. 


Old Garrison 


38. 


General Oldham 


3. 


Town Hall 


39. 


Isaac Oldham 


4. 


Old Stone Pound 


40. 


Thomas Burton 


5. 


Herring Weir 


41. 


Ambrose Parris 


6. 


First Church 


42. 


Luther Briggs 


7. 


Burying Ground 


43. 


Robinson's Creek 


8. 


Barker Burying Ground 


44. 


Pudding Brook 


9. 


Shepherd's Sawmill 


45. 


Little Pudding Brook 


10. 


LeFurgey's Sawmill 


46. 


Herring Brook 




Barker Gristmill 


47. 


Oldham Pond 


11. 


Fulling Mill 


48. 


No Bottom Pond 


12. 


Old Sawmill 


49. 


Great Sandy Pond 


13. 


The Furnace 


50. 


Furnace Pond 


14. 


Old Gristmill 


51. 


Queen's Brook 


15. 


Anthony Collamore 


52. 


Hobomoc Pond 


16. 


Alexander Parris 


53. 


Indian Head River 


17. 


Jeremiah Hall 


54. 


Swamp Brook 


18. 


Jabez Morse 


55. 


The Neck 


19. 


Isaac Hatch 


56. 


Beaver Dam 


20. 


Josiah Keen 


57. 


Lovers' Retreat 


21. 


Benjamin Barker 


58. 


Dancing Hill 


22. 


Samuel Webb 


59. 


Monument Island 


23. 


Seth Whitman 


60. 


The Indian Fields 


24. 


Peter Salmond 


61. 


Indian Bridge 


25. 


Morrill Allen 


62. 


Sachems' Point 


26. 


Samuel Jacob 


63. 


Ward Hill 


27. 


Isaac Little 


64. 


The Ridgepole 


28. 


Henry Baker 


65. 


Highgary 


29. 


Josiah Howland 


66. 


Ludden's Ford 


30. 


Kilborn Whitman 


67. 


Brick Kiln Lane 


31. 


Thomas Smith 


68. 


Wallis Orchard 


32. 


Hannah Dunster 


69. 


Cushing's Orchard 


33. 


Cliarles Jones 


70. 


Sabbaday Orchard 


34. 


Gideon Thomas White 


71. 


The Tanpits 


35. 


Daniel Lewis 


72. 


Lovers' Walk 


36. 


Asaph Tracy 


73. 


The Graves of the Kings 




O 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 



I. The Old Garrison. 




Ruris primordia nostri. 

HE old garrison, homestead of the Barker family 
in Pembroke, was probably the first site to be 
oecnpied by an English colonist within the 
limits of what is now Pembroke and Hanson. 
Tradition has placed the date of its building as 
early as 1628, but research seems to indicate 
that 1650 is much nearer the true figure. Thus 
the long prevailing statement that Pembroke 
once possessed the oldest house then standing in 
Massachusetts, is shown to be without founda- 
tion. The antiquity and interest that centre in the venerable 
site, suffer little from a loss of twenty years. 

Eobert Barker, founder of the Barker family in America, 
first appears — in the year 1632 — as a servant or apprentice 
of John Thorpe. Having attained his majority, he settled 
first in Marshfield ; where he held certain town offices, and 
bought house and land in 1648. According to tradition, he 
soon after went exploring the inland country, ascended North 
Eiver in an Indian canoe with a single white companion, 
Uolor Davis, and a negro, and instead of following the direct 
c{>urse of the stream, turned southward into one of the num- 
erous herring brooks which form its chief branches. Fortune 
favored them ; the stream, much larger before mill dams had 
obstructed its current, was ample for their light vessel, and 
brought them safely through the range of hills which, 
stretching northward from Highgary, or Pembroke Centre, 
shuts in North Eiver on the east. They ascended to the 
point where the sawmill of Mr. Lemuel LeFurgey now stands, 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

and proceeded to build a dwelling on a knoll just east of the 
stream. l^heir first winter was spent, it is said, in a dug-out. 
With the opening of spring were laid the foundations of the 
house torn down some fifteen years ago. 

Of this, the earliest structure is reputed to have been 
a single room built of flat stones from the neighboring brook 
and fields, laid in clay, and covered with a shed roof. It 
was about twenty feet square and only six feet high, with a 
huge fireplace that took fully a third of the side wall. To 
this rude pioneer's dwelling Robert Barker brought home his 
young wife, Lucy Williams ; and here their children — Robert, 
Francis, Isaac, Abigail, and Rebecca — were born. In 1651, 
Myles Standish sold a lot of thirty-five acres at Namassa- 
kcesett to Robert Barker ; and a year or two later, the Town of 
Duxbury assigned him lands. A farm was cleared, and on 
its produce, eked out with fish from the herring brook near 
by, the family lived and throve. At first there were no near 
neighbors; but in course of time, settlers came in from the 
coastlands of Duxbury, Marshfield, and Scituate, and formed 
a community centring at the Barker homestead. The house 
became a sort of tavern, or halfway house, much frequented 
by travellers between Plymouth and Boston. Here Judge 
Samuel Sewall — as his diary tells us — stopped for refresh- 
ment on his way to hold court at Plymouth; and in 1681, 
Robert Barker's wife was fined for selling cider to the In- 
dians. 

Scarcely was the village of Namassakeesett well started in 
its growth, when the disastrous King Philip's War broke out, 
in the fall of 1675, and the colonists — gro^vn careless from 
long peace — were driven to look for some place better fitted 
than their own frail dwellings to stand the brunt of a possi- 
ble Indian attack. The Barker homestead was central and 
strongly constructed; it stood on a knoll commanding the 
country for some distance arorind, and was out of bowshot 
from the high range of hills on the west; moreover, it had 
an inexhaustible supply of running water. This, then, was 
chosen as a garrison bouse, and put in such state of defence 



20 



THE OLD GAREISON 

as scanty means allowed. But the Indians who dwelt about 
the numerous ponds to the southwest, proved to be of peace- 
lul temper; and no hostile baud came from a distance to lay 
waste the little plantation, as befell those of Scituate and 
Bridgewater on either side. The colonists ill requited the 
mildness of the Herrmg Pond Indians; wittingly or imwit- 
tingly, they sold them garments tainted with the deadly 
smallpox, and fully half the tribe perished by the disease. 
The broken remainder crossed over the pond and swamp 
district to the region long known as Tunk — which name, 
according to legend, )iieans land beyond — and pitched their 
wigwams once more in the hill coimtry of what is now 
Hanson. 

The settlement at Namassakeesett spread gradually over 
the territory thus abandoned by the natives, and eJntered on 
new and profitable industries. In 1702 several of the 
Barkers contracted with one Lambert Despard to set up a 
furnace on the east shore of Herring now Furnace Pond, 
where for some years thenceforth was carried on the smelt- 
ing of the iron ore abundant in its neighborhood. On the 
steep banks of a small stream flowing from this pond, may 
still be seen traces of the ancient furnace structure, and a 
considerable space of ground thickly stroMTi with slag and 
broken ore. 

Meanwhile, the inmates of the garrison returned to a peace 
footing; but the defensive structures were allowed to stand. 
A part of the barricade of he'ATi timber remained as late as 
1777, and the loop-holes were visible when the house was 
destroyed. There can still be seen, leading from the west 
cellar toward the brook, an underground passage — now half 
choked with rubbish from the ruins — through which the 
garrison might smuggle water in case of siege. It must 
originally have been several feet square, and was carefully 
constructed with smooth flat stones ; a few years ago it could 
be entered to a distance of more than t^venty feet, and at this 
point turned sharply to the left; it is now sunken, the lower 
portions have fallen in, and the entrance itself is no longer 
passable. 

21 



ANCIENT LANDMAEKS OF PEMBROKE 

Not many years after the close of this war, the Barkers 
built a sawmill on the stream near the house, where the mill 
of Mr. Lemuel LeFurgey now stands; here also they had a 
grist mill, which ground grain for the neighboring farmers. 
These industries descended to Robert, Francis, and Isaac, sons 
of the first Robert, all of them active and capable men ; who 
continued and enlai-ged the business. Robert, the founder of 
the famil}'', died in 1691 at an advanced age, patriarch of 
the fast growing village of Namassakeesett. 

Isaac Barker, his youngest son, succeeded to the homestead, 
and an attendant estate of more than one hundred acres. His 
wife was Judith, daughter of Governor Thomas Prence of 
Plymouth; tradition states that she and her seven sisters were 
belles of the colony. Of her children, — to quote the manu- 
script of Hannah Barker, dating from 1830 — "Rebecca mar- 
ried a Keen; Judith and Bathsheba married Howlands, and 
were mothers to the ancient Poets ; and Mary, the youngest 
child, was the great traditionary hiv'storian, and progenitor of 
the Smiths. She was born in 1678, and when quite young, 
was set to guard the sheep that gi-azed on the lot below. Her 
favorite seat was a young elm ; its branches Avere flexible, and 
served as a tilt: it was a native of the forest, and grew to a 
gigantic size. The spot where the sheep grazed, was the first 
cleared land in town; it is now a rich English meadow in its 
native state, and the plow has never upturned its green sward. 
After the sportiveness of youth was passed, Mary did as 
most others do, and changed her name to Crosby; the hus- 
band died, and she married a Miller ; after burying him, she 
lived a widow — for reasons unknown — 42 years and 2 months, 
and died in 1772, aged 94 years." When the children of 
Isaac and Judith Barker Avere still yomig, King William's 
War, first of the great French and Indian series, broke out; 
and their youth was passed among the alarms, if not among 
the actual horrors, of v/ar. I'he hostile forces did not, how- 
ever, penetrate to the seaboard villages, and this particular 
settlement received no damage. 

Namassakeesett was fast outgrowing its status as a 



22 



^ 



(bB 



"n 



Ci, 




THE OLD GAREISON 

dependent village; men of enterprise and education were 
coming in — not to speak of the increasing families of the first 
settlers. It must be remembered that the Barkers and their 
neighbors, living as they did in a remote region of the town 
of Duxbury, were put to great inconvenience. Frequent 
journeys to the seat of governn>ent were necessary; these must 
be taken afoot or on horseback over rough bridle-paths, 
through woods as yet teeming with dangerous animals. 
Church and state were one : and every Sunday the family must 
travel these fifteen or twenty weary miles to and from meet- 
ing, or suffer tliemselves to become outcasts from society. 
Early in 1711, the inhabitants of what is now Pembroke and 
Hanson began to agitate incorporation. Their desire was 
strongly opposed by the citizens of Duxbury proper, who 
finally yielded when certain rich farms in the present village 
of West Duxbury were conceded to them. A petition was 
presented to the General Court at Boston — for in 1693 the 
seat of government had passed tliither from Plymouth — ask- 
ing the incorporation of certain districts in Plymouth Colony 
as a new town, to be called Brookfield. These districts were : 
a tract known as The Major's Purchase, bought from the 
Indians by Major Winslow of Marshfield, now in Hanson; a 
tract known as Marshfield Upper Tiands, now western and 
southern Pembroke, then a part of the common lands of 
Marshfield ; and the northern part of Duxbury proper, in 
what is now Pembroke, consisting of lands held partly on 
particular grants and partly in common. The Indian name 
for so much of these tracts as lies along the course of the 
Herring Brook, and about the Ponds, was Namassakeesett, 
or Place of Much Fish; the region now Hanson was called 
Tunk; and the general term for Pembroke proper was Matta- 
keesett, or Worn-out Planting Lands — applied in reminiscence 
of a cultivation rather long-standing than vigorous. Who- 
ever has traversed the arid highlands of western and southern 
Pembroke, cannot fail to acknowledge the justice of this 
name. On the twenty-first of March in the year 1712, an act 
passed the General Court granting the petition, and erecting 



28 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

within the limits of tlie Old Colony a town called Pembroke, 
which should comprise — together with interjacent tracts — the 
regions of The Major's Purchase and upper Duxbury. The 
first clerk and the chairman of the first board of selectmeai for 
the new town, was a Barker, and four of that name appear 
upon the roll of original grantees. 

Some years before the incorporation of Pembroke, Isaac 
Barker, Junior, grandson of the first Robert, succeeded to his 
father's homestead: Samuel, the eldest son, contracted a 
marriage which displeased his faniilv; and disowned by them, 
he removed from Pembroke altogether, and settled in Sand- 
wich. Isaac was a cordwainer, or shoemaker, and merchant ; 
his farm supplied cheese, meat, and corn to the neighbors; 
and he had the family gristmill on the brook. The new 
town early granted him privilege to build a fulling mill on 
the upper course of the Herring Brook; its foundations and 
dam are still visible, just above the bridge where High Street 
crosses the stream. 

In 1722 the house itself was much enlarged: the walls 
of the original single room were covered with sheathing, and 
other rooms so added as to form a large mansion. 

Isaac Barker's extensive holdings in real estate brought him 
into many lawsuits, in which Isaac Little, Esquire, who then 
carried on the smelting and founding of iron at the pond, 
was his adversary. Like other gentlemen of the day, he 
held several slaves, chiefly Indians; as appears from the 
following document: — 

"These are to any Tavern Keeper where this indian may 
come to desire you to let him have what is convenant for him, 
for he is in pursuit of an indian boy of mvn and if I should 
give him money he would disguis himself and you may see 
what is convenant for him. My lad is about 17 years of 
age, his cloaths are, leather briches, a plain jacket with a short 
white wooUing one under it, old shoes mended on the upper 
leather, an old beaver hat, short hare, gray yearn stokins, new 
•tockt. Whosoever shall tak up sd runaway and him convey 



24 



THE OLD GAERISON 

to me ye subscriber, or to this indian, shall have a sufficient 
reward. 

ISAAC BARKER 
I'embroke 3rd of ye mo. 

called October, 1730. 
Let the bearer keep this for his journey" 

Notwithstanding lawsuits and slaves, Isaac Barker was of 
the Society of Friends, and a lover of books. A room in his 
house was set apart as his study, and there much of his time 
was spent. About 1740 he went to hear Whitefield at 
Plymouth; his mind was unbalanced by the eloquence of the 
famous Methodist, so that he became violently insane, and 
was chained by his waist to a sill in the Brook room of the 
homestead. The iron ring remained in the sill until the 
house was destroyed. Isaac was, at tlie time of his pilgrimage, 
nearly eighty; he continued in his insanity until his death, 
which occurred in 1754, at the advanced age of ninety-four 
years. 

For a long period after the incorporation of Pembroke, the 
Barker homestead was a social centre. Isaac Barker's four 
daughters were "belles of the times" — to quote Hannah 
Barker — "and considered rich; consequently" — she goes on 
to say — "the Garrison was a place of general resort; many 
protestations of love were raadcj but the young ladies were 
wary — finally the oldest daughter, Mary, married a Bennet, 
and became a little insane. Sylvester, the second daughter, 
bom in 1710, after a siege of six years surrendered to a 
Josselyn. He declared he loved the very gi-ound she stood 
upon : which proved literally true ; for she had no peace after 
her marriage, because she would not put him in possession of 
her land. No one entered a Meeting House with more grace 
and dignity than she; 'Walk like thy Aunt Josselyn' was a 
command that rung in infant ears." 

Prince Barker, the second son of Isaac, became the fourth 
holder of the homestead about 1740. He was — continues the 
family historian — a kind-hearted, honest man, by every one 
loved; his hospitality extended to all who would receive it. 



26 



ANCIENT LANDMAEKS OF PEMBROKE 

and if others were happy, he was satisfied : as the house was a 
place of general rendezvous in his father's time, so it contin- 
ued to be in his. The crib and meat barrels were always well 
filled; and when the season came round, they needed no 
preparation for another supply. It is recorded of him on the 
town books that he had found a pair of men's leather shoes; 
this entry testifies, as well as his honesty, the custom of the 
times. His daughter Deborah was early left a widow, and 
came home with two children. His son Prince married a 
widow Bryant. He ploughed the ocean for a living, and died 
leneath its waves. His four destitute children returned to 
the hospitable roof of their ancestors. 

Isaac Barker — the second son of Prince, Senior — ^was a 
clothier, and at the head of his father's household; his father 
was defad, and the estate rendered insolvent; and he had a 
numerous family of young children and dependent friends 
around him. "I'he day came when the seat of his ancestors 
was to be sold at public auction, and all save the widow's 
dower was to pass into strangers' hands. None had the means 
to save it. At this critical and trying time, Joseph Rogers — a 
firm friend — came and said: 'Isaac, it will not do for the 
farm to go out of the family; what will become of them? 
They must be kept together; thou must buy it, and I will bid 
it off for thee.' The farm was sold, and his brother Benjamin 
bought it; it was then conveyed to Isaac, who paid for it 
when he could." 

The family of four grown people and six childrem were 
dependent on Isaac's exertions for some years, but were there- 
after scattered. Isaac had four children to fill their place. 
Soon after the birth of these, the fulling mill burned. He 
had just erected a belt-hammer; and nine months later, this 
was consumed by fire. Such an accumulation of losses 
induced his creditors to make their demands : not having the 
ready money to satisfy them, he hired several htmdred dollars, 
and said to all "Come." The revenue from the farm would 
have been enough to offset this debt, under some persons' 
management: but it had always been the Barker habit to 



26 




Peleg Barker 
1793 - 1882 



THE OLD GAEEISON 

empty storehouses ; Is^ac was now too far advanced in life to 
learn the secret of coining produce, and he became more and 
more embarrassed. Old age and infirmities crept on, the 
farm was neglected, the debt increased despite payment of 
much interest. By the exertions of his children, this debt 
was finally cancelled. Isaac lived to see seventy-fivei years 
and was gathered to his fathers. 

"Necessity, not choice, had placed him in the centre of his 
family, around which almost every branch was assembled 
His circle of friends was extensive, and no man ever gave 
them a more hearty welcome. All good feelings were recipro- 
cated, and visits returned. Though an unlettered man, he 
was an interesting companion. His ready tongue could utter 
most se\rere and cutting things: but with the sound, the 
feeling died; and before an hour passed, he would disoblige 
himself to accommodate those he had offended. He felt the 
want of a literar}' education, and was among the first to pro- 
mote it for others. He had his faults, as all men have: but 
they grew out of circumstances, rather than badness of heart; 
and he was rather to be pitied for allowing a vice that comes 
not in the form of vice, to gain ascendency : and although, at 
times, his family were wretched, they found enough in his 
character to love and respect." 

Peleg Barker, youngest son of Isaac, succeeded to the 
homestead upon his father's death in 1825, and later married 
Abigail, daughter of Samuel Loring of Duxbury. He was the 
sixth and last ov/ner in the direct male line. The old farm 
was by him carefully cultivated: the neighboring waters of 
Herring Brook were pasture for his geese; and his errant 
flock of sheep, the last of all that had been raised upon the 
ancient fields, is still matter of memory to Pembroke people. 
He loved a fine horse ; ajid was fond of company and social 
gatherings, to the day of his death. He died in April of 
1883 : his wife did not survive him. 

After its occupancy by Peleg Barker, the homestead passed 
out of the name. It descended to Hannah, daughter of his 
brother Isaac, and wife of William Josselyn of Pembroke; 
after her death in 1885, her husband became joint owner. 

27 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

The house was long untenanted : the decay of two centuries 
rapidly increased, and no effort at repair was made. Soon the 
old mansion became a hopeless ruin. Shingles fell; windows 
were broken in; sills rotted, and floors grew rickety. The 
ancient furniture and heirlooms — such as a fine silver tankard, 
a pastel of Prince Barker, a huge tortoise-shell cradle, and 
tiie old iron fireback cast in 1722 — had been scattered, or sold 
outright; and curious persons were busy for years in tearing 
away nails, shingles, bricks, and other mementos of "the 
oldest house in Massachusetts." Finally, about fifteen years 
ago, the Garrison was torn down by Mr. Josselyn. Only the 
niins of the chimney and a few foundation stones remain. 

Shortly before this time, the last member of the Barker 
households in Pembroke bearing the name, had died : and now, 
of the fine old family that settled this region and was so prom- 
inent in all its early history, not one is left in Peimbroke to 
l)and down the Barker name. Heirs of the blood are 
numerous, and the homestead has recently come into posses- 
sion of one of these. Some ten years ago, it was purchased 
by Joseph Shepherd, Esquire, of Pembroke Centre, the eighth 
generation from Robert Barker; whose descendants thus, after 
a lapse of more than two centuries, still cultivate the estate 
granted to their ancestor. 



28 



1 1. The Salmond House. 



Brisk tvielder of the birch and rule. 
The master of the district school 
Could doff at ease his scholar's gown 
To peddle wares from town to town. 




OT far from the site of the Garrison stands a 
large, white double house, on the west of 
LeFurgey's mill pond, known as the Peter 
Salmond Place. The house itself is of uncer- 
tain age, dating from far back in the eighteenth 
century: it is said to have been originally a 
'Tialf house," so called; the more ancient 
portion is probably, at the least, two centuries 
old. The land was once, of course, a part of 
the Barkers' grant ; they early sold out to later 
comers, and the homestead of four acres only — this house was 
never head of a large estate — had, before the incorporation of 
Pembroke, already passed through several hands. 

In 1720 it was ovs^ned and occupied by Deacon Jacob 
Mitchell, a blacksmith, who sold it in 1723 for £330 to Samuel 
Jacob, Millwright. Apparently, Jacob did not long remain 
owner of the property; for in 1726 his homestead of four 
acres was transferred, for £500, by John Burr of Hingham, 
a cooper, to Nehemiah Cushing of Pembroke, Gentleman. 
Captain Gushing, a famous buyer and seller of real estate, in 
1727 conveyed it for £370 to Nathaniel How, the miller. 
Samuel Jacob seems to have occupied the house till 1731 ; 
when How sold his residence, the present Allen Farm, and 



AI^CIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBEOKE 

moved into the Salmond place. How remained in Pembroke 
iintil 1743 : he then sold this house, together with his share 
in the corn mill and flowage, for £700 to Asaph Tracy of 
Marshfield, Yeoman. Tracy soon disposed of the place, and 
in 1750 bought Allen Farm; the purchaser of the Salmond 
house was again Samuel Jacob, now gro^vn prosperous, and 
living — it is said — in a large mansion on the hill, now fallen 
into ruins, situated below the present parsonage. Probably 
ihe Salmond place was rented to transients employed on the 
Barker estate. 

Lieutenant Samuel Jacob, who now owned this house for 
some years, was a man of considerable promiaence in town 
affairs. His grandfather was Captain John, son of Nicholas 
Jacob, the ancestor, all of Hingham ; his father, Samuel, died 
very early, and his mother, Elizabeth, was made guardian. 
Born in 1695, he settled in Pembroke on the Salmond place, 
and there pursued his trade of a millwright. He must have 
been a skilled craftsman and a shrewd business man; for in 
1760 he had acquired sufficient property to confer upon him 
the title of "gentleman," and was masteo" of several estates. 
He was constable in 1726, and selectman for ten years, 
between 1730 and 1750; and is styled a lievit^nant on the 
town books. His son Samuel died in youth ; Seth married in 
1751 Penelope, daughter of Thomas Burton, and left a family. 
Deacon Samuel Jacob — as reads the inscription on his grave- 
stone in the old burving ground at Pembroke Centre — died 
in 1784, aged eighty-nine years. 

Some time before, in the year 1773, he had passed the 
Salmond place to his unmarried daughter Susanna; who lived 
there a while, and in 1784 — six months after her father's 
death — sold out to Benjamin Barker for £116. Her death 
occurred in 1794, and the following reflection appears upon 
her gravestone : 

"In mem.or}' of Miss Susanna Jacob She 
Died .lanry ye 1st 1794 Fn her 62d Year. 
Tho Unespoused in Earth we ly 
yet if espoused to Christ we Die 



30 



THE SALMOND HOUSE 

no Mortal Joys could ere Compare 

the Finished Joys that Centers there 

In Glory Christ unites the Just 

tho Distant Grave Divide the dust" 
Benjamin Barker was son of Prince, and brotheir of Isaac, 
pU of the GarrisoD. "He was the youngest child," says 
Hannah Barker, "a very feeble one, and, consequently, much 
indulged. The spirits and buoyancy of youth were sup- 
pressed by a nervous affection that blasted every hope of 
happiness, and paralyzed every energy. Society had no 
charms for him, even the playground was avoided, and he 
chose rather to brood over his dreadful melancholy feeling 
than to join in any sports or labor that kind solicitation of 
friends could suggest; but as he approached towards man- 
hood, he outgrew, as it were, the dismal forebodings that 
preyed upon his mind, and took a share in the employment 
of the fulling mill in 17?9. 

'Work gave him confidence in himself, and at the age of 
thirty, he resolved to marry: accordingly, he made choice of 
a worthy Avoman. Nanry Barker, and removed her from 
Tiverton to neighbor Salmon's house; the mulberry tree was 
planted by her, but she lived not to eat of its fruit. She left 
two children; and in proper time, her husband married 
Rebecca Partridge, a lady of handsome fortune. In ex- 
pression of her love and confidence, she gave him control of 
all her propertv- The powers of his mind were* now exerted 
to accumulate wealth; he made nice calculations, and was 
judicious in the choice of land." In this pursuit of riches, 
Benjamin Barker was led to purchase the Barker homestead 
at Scituate; and in 1792 he removed thither, selling his 
residence in Pembroke to Peter Salmond, a trader. 

The new owner was a native of Scotland. He and his 
younger brother, Eobert, were born in a small town lying 
between Edinburgh and Glasgow, within eight miles — says 
tradition — from the tree in which William Wallace hid, as is 
related in the "Scottish Chiefs." Previous to the opening of 
the Eevolution, they came to Massachusetts as traders, or 



81 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

pedlers, deolipg in rich foreign goods, and stayed in Bridge- 
water one year. Starting thence to return to Scotland by way 
of Halifax in Nova Scotia, they were impressed into the 
British army under Burgoyne: when that genejral was de- 
feated at Saratoga, they left the ranks, and returned to their 
countryman, Mr. Russell of Bridgewater. Soon they entered 
the employ of Hon. Hugh Orr, also a native of Scotland ; and 
with him they remained four years, receiving but $8 monthly 
iu addition to their board. Thence both came to Hanover, 
and engaged in trade once more. After two years' residence 
at Hanover, Peter removed in 1792 to Pembroke. He had 
married in 1785 Eunice, daughter of Captain Jonathan Basa 
of East Bridgewater. and widow of Seth Whitman; their chil- 
dren were William, Eunice, and Peter : the last succeeded to 
the estate. Eunice wedded Captain Josiah Howland, and 
dwelt in the "Tlichni House," southwest of Allen Farm. 
William Salmond removed to Bath in Maine. Peter Salmond 
died in 1828, aged eighty-three; and his widow, four years 
afteir. 

Pater Salmond, Esquire, born in 1790, received a good 
education, and was for many years the dominie, or school- 
master, at Pembroke. Later, he kept a general store in the 
north wing of his dwelling. His wife was Abigail, daughter 
of Deacon Isaac Hatch of the First Church; he had one 
daughter, who did not survive him. Despite many eccentric 
ways, he was highly respected and loved in the community. 
Deacon Salmond had on most matters an opinion worth 
referring to. He was selectman for ten years, between 1830 
and 1850; treasurer, 1833-1839; and representative at the 
General Court in 1858. Though not himself a singer, he took 
great interest in the doings of the choir ; and when a quarrel 
among its members seemed impending, would whisper 
anxiously to his neighbors, ^^eep still, keep still, everybody; 
Singing-devil's round !" It was his habit to sit in church with 
one eye cocked up at thg choir, and. whenever a false note 
i'arred his nerves, to greet it with a snort of disgust. He 
lemained keen and active to the last; and even after carriages 



32 



THE SALMOND HOUSE 

became common, could often be seen riding down street on a 
spirited horse, which ha would keep in a constant worry with 
whip and rein. He died in January of 1880, the last of his 
family, and the homestead passed into other hands. 

Owned successively by the brothers Seth and Thomas 
Whitman, and by Mr. and Mrs. John Gillett, now of North 
Pembroke, it was purchased a few years ago by Mr. Edwin 
Lewis of Taunton, and became part of the estate known as 
Allen Farm. 



3S 




The Reverend Morrill Allen 

1776-1870 



III. Allen Farm. 



A man he was to all the country dear. 

And passing rich with forty pounds a year: 

Unskilful he to fawn, or seek for power, 

By d'^ctrines fashioned to the varying hour; 

Far other aims his heart had learned to prize. 

More bent to raise the wretched than to rise. 
* * * * * 

A t church, with meek and unaffected grace. 
His looks adorned the venerable place; 
Truth from his lips prevailed with double sway, 
And fools, who came to scoff, remained to pray. 

The service past, around the pious man. 

With steady zeal, each honest rustic ran; 

E'en children followed with endearing wile, 

And plucked his gown, to share the good man's smile. 

His ready smile a parent's warmth exprest; 

Their ivelfare pleased him, and their cares distrest; 

To them, his heart, his love, his griefs were given. 

But all his serious thoughts had rest in heaven. 

As some tall clifj, that lifts its awful form. 

Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm — 

Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread. 

Eternal sunshine settles on its head. 



FE old mansion which stands at the comer of 
Allen and Mattakeesett Streets, west of the 
Garrison, on the estate Imown as Allen Farm, 
did not see the beginning of the last century. 
Tt was bnilt soon after the year 1800 by the 
TJeverend Morrill Allen, fifth minister of Pem- 
broke ; and took the place of a still older house, 
situated on the other side of the lane. As was 
the case with the Salmond homestead, the 
earlier history of this site is extremely obscure. 




ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

The older house was built on land which had. originally been 
part of the Barkers' grant, and in 1730 we find it owned by 
their miller, one Nathaniel How. This man later occupied 
the Salmond place, and moved away from Pembroke before 
1750, leaving scant traces of himself and his family behind: 
it is thought that he came hither from Dorchester, and wa& 
£on of Israel and Tabitha How. In the spring of 1731, How 
sold his dwelling — with half a quarter of an acre of land — for 
£170 to Israel Turner, then styled a cordwainer, or shoe- 
maker; he, in turn, retained possession for eleven years. 

Israel Turner, Esquire, although a man of no great fortune, 
evidently possessed the respect and confidence of his fellow- 
citizens: who sent him as their representative to General 
Court at Boston in seven successive years, 1749-1755, and in 
1758. His life was cut short just in the beginning of "the 
times that tried men's souls ;" and in the severe crisis which 
followed close upon his removal, Pembroke felt keenly the 
loss of one of her ablest and most experienced citizens. He 
died 24 September, 1760. in the fifty-third year of his age, and 
lies buried in the biirying ground at Pembroke. 

Some years before his death, the house had been sold to 
Joseph Foord, Janior. a glazier; who bought it in 1742 for 
£125. He was fourth in descent from William, the 
ancestor, of Marshfield : his father, Joseph Foord, was first 
deacon of Pembroke church, moderator at more than one 
town meeting, selectman in 1713, and nmny times after; and 
died patriarch of the town, in 1 749, at the age of eighty-three. 
Most of the Fords who have lived in Pembroke, trace their 
descent from Deacon Joseph. Of his son, we know little; and 
suffice it to say that, having owned the place but eight years, 
he sold it in 1750 to its first permanent owners since the 
Barkers — Thomas Tracy and his son Asaph. 

The Tracies were natives of Duxbury, but came to 
Pembroke from Marshfield ; Asaph had owned for some years 
the Salmond place, which he now con\eyed to Samuel Jacob. 
He died in 1755, and Asaph his son occupied the homestead 
until his death in 1799. Captain Asaph Tracy, son of Asaph 



36 



ALLEN FAEM 

and Mar}' Jacob, married in 1786 Lydia, daughter of Col. 
David Gushing of Hingham ; lived on the old Seth Ford place, 
opposite Mr. Lucius WThite's, in Pembroke Centre; and died 
of consumption in 1789, leaving two children — Capt. Thomas, 
who died in the Mississippi River in 1811, and Lydia, who 
married Ephraim Bouve of Hingham. His widow married 
Deacon Gideon Thomas White, and lived in a house which 
stood, as late as 1900, in the valley behind the Town Hall. 
In 1796 the Tracy homestead was passed by Asaph to his son 
.''acob — a cordwainer, or shoemaker, by trade — husband of 
Hannah Ford. Jacob Tracy did not long remain owner. In 
the spring of 1802, he sold the homestead for $1500 to Morrill 
Allen, and bought the lattei*'s estate in Raynham. 

The Eeverend Morrill Allen was born at Dover in 1776, 
iifteenth child of Captain Hezekiah and Mary Allen, After 
preparing for college with a private tutor, he entered Brown 
University in the fall of 1795 ; and graduated with honor in 
1798. During his vears at college — says his biographer. Rev. 
T. P. Doggett — he was a diligent student, and his whole 
deportment was upright and pure. He did not possess much 
of that sober, plodding devotion to books which trims the 
midnight lamp, and shuts the door against lighthearted and 
buoyant companionship; possessing rather a temperament that 
was humorous and social. He could enter heartily into every 
kind of innocent sport, and greatly enjoy a merry time. Full 
of life and high spirits, he could not bear that austere gravity 
which frowns upon all amusement ; he cherished, at the same 
time, a profound respect for the religion which demands 
chiefly purity of intention and rectitude of life. While 
his own character grew into conformity with such a 
religion, he felt more and more deeply a desire to preach it 
to others ; and that desire dictated the choice of his profession. 
In order to obtain the funds necessary for his education, he 
had engaged in teaching: his success had been so good that 
he was almost determined to continue in this work. Inclina- 
tion, however, outweighed the prospect of greater earnings; 
and he began the study of theology with Dr. Fobes of 



37 



ANCIENT LANDMAEKS OF PEMBROKE 

Ka3Tihain, where he remained two years. He was ordained 
fifth minister of the church at Pembroke, 9 December, 1801, 
and in the following May married Hannah, daughter of Hon. 
Josiah Dean of Raynham. They at once began housekeeping 
in the old house on Allen Farm. 

The minister's salary at that time was $475. In order to 
eke out the scanty income, he engaged once more in teaching, 
and received numerous students into his family. The 
unbroken succession of indoor employments, proved too much 
for his health ; and he turned to farming. In this occupation, 
Ilia success was notable. His fame throughout the county was 
even greater as farmer than as minister; and after his res- 
ignation of the public oftice, he spent the remainder of a life 
longer than the average, in experimenting, and enlarging his 
own establishment. His correspondence with various 
a^/ricultural magazines was large, and he was closely con- 
nected with the several farmers' associations of south-eastern 
Massachusetts 

Mr. Allen's ministry — which began in his early manhood, 
and continued to the age of sixty-five — was, of all his services 
to the community, the one most cherished in memory by his 
people. Tender and alfecting were the recollections that 
thronged their minds at his burial. They remembered the 
clearness and brevity of his address, the sound judgment and 
common sense shown in his pulpit preparations. While many 
clergymen delivered discourses long, prosy, and full of 
reiterations ; his were always brief, never tedious, and wholly 
practical. He sought to impress no more than a single point 
by a single sermon. Although possessed of a fine gift for 
memorizing, he cared so little for display of his powers that 
he almost never spoke without notes. It was at the fvmerals 
of his beloved parishioners that his power as a speaker best 
appeared. His effort to control his own emotions, was often 
apparent; and a few simple, heartfelt words from him were 
more consoling than others' studied oratory. In ordinary life, 
he was of a cheerful and even merry temper, and quick to 
joke and laugh wdth a neighbor. Many stories are told of his 
genial, homely wit, and his love of a humorous companion. 

88 



^ 



? 




ALLEN FARM 

After Mr. Allen ended his labors as minister, he was twice 
elected a member of the Miissachusetts Senate. During his 
ministry, he had purposely avoided politics, had never even 
atteinded a town meeting; and this election came as au 
unlooked-for honor. Among other questions agitated at this 
j»eriod, was that which relates to the right and duty of a 
government to provide for the support of religion by law. 
Mr. Allen believed in this duty. He feared that the repeal 
of a law requiring people to pay for preaching, would increase 
the discouragements of the ministry so much that young men 
of learning and ambition would turn from it. He thought 
that the minister's support, always precarious, would become 
still more so; and that the minister himself, depending for a 
living on the contributions of a few rich men, would be led 
to pass over vices which, under a different condition, would 
have met a needed rebuke. The voluntary system was 
adopted, however; and a.s Mr. Allen foresaw, the working of 
it has proved disastrous indeed, though not fatal, to the 
existence of religious societies. 

Mr. Allen continued as minister during the space of forty 
years. Li this period, he thrice represented the town at 
General Court, was long chairman of the school committee; 
and thereafter, was moderator at town meeting nearly every 
year from 1840 till 1860, and treasurer, 1849-1852. In a 
sermon preached to commemorate his birthday, he has left us 
the best extant account dealing with the early history of 
Pembroke church, and the lives of his predeicessors. Long 
after he became a private parishioner, he continued at inter- 
vals to exercise the office of minister : he preached on several 
occasions when over ninety; and to the last, officiated 
frequently at marriages or funerals. Yet he never had a 
difficulty with any of the four ministers who in turn succeeded 
him; and his apostolic appearance in church seemed to make 
the place more holy, and inspired the minister vrith a feeling 
that he spoke in presence of a patriarch. 

He died — mourned by a whole community, whose love and 
respect he held through life — 17 August, 1870, at the great 
age of ninety-four years. 

39 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

Early in Mr. Allen's time of residence at Pembroke, he 
had erected a substantial house just across the road from his 
former dwelling; which stood as late as 1840. The new 
house, with the farm adjoining, remained in the Allen family 
for some years. It was the home of Hannah, daughter of 
Mr. Allen, and widow of Captain King, until her death in 
1884. Long thereafter owned by her brother William Paley 
Allen, it was occupied, till the close of the last century, by 
Mr. Theophilus Appleford, now of Norwell; who cultivated 
extensively the fine old farm, enriched by the labors of Mr. 
Allen. Meantime, the place had come into the hands of Mr. 
Edwin Lewis of Tamiton, a native of England. Mr. Lewis — 
himseilf an expert v/orthy to succeed the planter of Dancing 
Hill — was just on the point of removing to Pembroke, when 
his busy life was cut short by death. He had made Allen 
Farm the nucleus of a large estate, including the Salmond 
and Hiclyn houses, which was kept intact by his heirs. 



40 







O OS 
00 



^ 

"^ 

^ 
w 

S 



IV. The Little Estate. 



Up and down the village fttreefs 
Strange are the forms my fancy meets. 
The ancient vwrthies J see again: 
I hear the tap of the elder's cane. 
And his awful periwig I see, 
And the silver buckles of shoe and knee. 
Stately and slow, with thoughtful air, 
His black cap hiding his whitened hair. 
Walks the Judge of fhe great Assize, 
Samuel Sewall, the good and wise. 



COUNTRY crossroads lies drowsing under the 

A westerly sun; which, though already well past 

meridian, still draws its haze of steamy vapour 
from an adjacent clearing, and in the highways, 
glints brightly on grassblades just shooting 
from the rich mould between horsepath and 
ruts. The year is the twelfth of good Queen 
Anne, of grace 1713; the day, a Saturday in 
early springtime, or — more exactly — March tho 
twenty-eighth, and rather warm for the season; 
the hour, three o'clock afternoon : the place, Hanover Four 
Comers, when Hanover is still western Scituate, and the road 
which, by its intersection with the famous Boston turnpike, 
produces the Corners, a simple country lane. The wayside 
elm is unplanted, and mine host has yet to hang from its 
branches his swinging sign : but the ancient place is already 
these sixty years a rendezvous for travellers; three of whom 




ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

now issue from Barstow's Ordinary a few rods down northern 
Broadway, and monnting, take at leisure the easterly road. 

The central rider is one to draw and hold the attention of 
even a chance observer. If justice there be any in an 
inference from the figure, this man has already well rounded 
out the span of middle age: dress and bearing alike proclaim 
that his sixty years have invested their owner with a corre- 
sponding weight of authority among his countrymen. He 
bestrides a mount which, like its master, beitrays not so much 
the fleetness of the clipper as the slow and steady qualities of 
a transport or ship-of-the-line ; and is withal so broad of beam 
tiiat, as the undergrowth abruptly closes in, the second com- 
panion must needs fall a length behind, leaving his fellow to 
keep pace, and lend a respectful ear to the solemn garrulity of 
the distinguished personage. Mark him well, fellow wayfarer: 
watch with me a twelvemonth together, and you shall not 
behold, upon this highway of the councillors, deputies, 
justices, and governors of two colonies, his ^ual in dignity 
and consequence; for here is none other than Judge Samuel 
Sewall of the Province of Massachusetts Bay, with Corwin 
and Lynde his associates, now well advanced upon his annual 
journey to the April session of his court at Plymouth. 

The Judge is out of earshot ; and as we follow his leisurely 
progress toward North River Bridge, we can but guess that 
the theme of his discourse is a recollection of former journeys, 
taken over the Plymouth highway when the imion of 1692 
was yet fresh in men's memories, and the Court administered 
justice in AYilliam and Mary's name. Hear what he said of 
these on another occasion : — 

"7 March 169S : 2nd day. Set out for Plimouth about ten 
of the Morning. Get to Barker's and lodge there. Majr. and 
Gen. set out about Noon and came to us at Barker's in the 
night." And of the return : "It rained, but got to Barker's 
that night. My horse floundered in a bank of snow and threw 
me off but had no hurt. Laus Deo. * * * 

"26 March 1705. Set out from AVeymouth for Barker's: 
a eouldier from Deerfield accompanied ns with his Fusee. At 



42 



THE LITTLE ESTATE 

Barker's the Sheriff met us and Major Walley and Mr. 
Leverett came up. So went cheerfully along and got to 
Sheriff's house in good season, where we were entertained." 

The bridge by which the Judge and his party crossed over 
North River, M'^as the second to span that stream at the place. 
Passengers between Plymouth and Boston had early found 
tedious the long detour in which the Indian path from 
Patuxet — now Plymouth — to Xeponset, Iniown as thei Bay 
Path, circled about its headwaters; and abandoning the old 
thoroughfare either at the Garrison or — more probably — at 
Brimstone Corner, had established a more direct route, passing 
the River by ford, or perhaps by ferry, at Stony Reach, and 
rejoining the Path somewhere within the limits of what is 
now Hanover. The point of crossing was well taken; Stony 
Reach is one of the few places at which North River, breaking 
through a range of lofty hills, contracts its elsewhere wide 
spreading valley, and admits approach through something less 
than a quarter mile of marshy swamp and meadow: these 
facts the Colony Court did not fail to recognize when, in 
October of 1656, it authorized AVilliam Barstow "to build a 
Bridge above the third herring brook at stoney reache, being 
the place where now passengers goe frequently over; the said 
Bridge to bee made sufficient for horse and foot." Here, the 
Court in 1682 ordered built a cart bridge; which was erected, 
probably, without a change of site. This was abandoned and 
destroyed in 1839, when it was replaced by the third North 
River Bridge — of which in 1853 the historian of Hanover 
tould say, "'It is a substantial structure, and promises to last 
for many generations." The ancient piers, built of loose 
stones, are yet visible, jutting out into the stream some fifty 
feet above the present arch, and affording its base no little 
protection; as, after the lapse of more than two centuries, 
they still buffet stoutly the unremitting current of a stream 
which — Dr. Howes to the contrary notwithstanding — is not 
always the phlegmatic "Nort Riffer" of his poem. 

So the Judsje went over the River; and — I doubt not — as 
he went, told his experience of the year preceding, recorded 



43 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

thus in his diary: ''24. March 1713: 2nd day. Over Besby's 
Ferry Horse and man the North River Bridge being down. 
* * * 28 March 1712: 6th day. Game homeward. 
Rain'd hard quickly after setting out, went by Mattakeese 
Meetinghouse and forded over the North-River. My Horse 
stumbled, in the considerable body of water, but I made a 
shift, by GOD'S Help to sit him, and he recover'd and car- 
ried me out. Rain'd very hard that went into a Bam 
awhile." Besby's Ferry — so called in deference to its 
former proprietor, Elisha Bisbee, grandfather of Esquire 
Elisha — spanned North River at the point where Union 
Bridge now stands. The way which led Judge Sewall past 
Mattakeesett Meeting Flouse- -which, when he saw it, had 
been Pembroke Meeting House just one week — was the Bay 
Path itself, winding up the slopes of Highgary, skirting the 
western border of the Great Cedar Swamp, and approaching 
Indian Head River along the route now taken by West Elm 
Street: and the ford which so nearly brought his steed to 
grief, was the same through which, eighty years before, John 
Ludden had carried Governor Winthrop on his journey to 
Plymouth in 1632. 

But the afternoon is waning: we must pause for no more 
longwinded digressions, and hasten after the Judge, over 
Quaker Meeting House Hill — which, had he known to what 
use it must one day be devoted, he would doubtless have 
avoided though the act involved his passing tlie "parlous 
Ford" a score of times — past the houses of Thomas, Francis, 
and Robert Barker ; past Robert's sawmill at Pudding Brook, 
built in 1693 on the beaver dam which still projects into the 
stream above West's factory; and so on to Namassakeesett, 
the Herring Brook with its sawmill erected shortly before 
1682 by Charles Stockbridge as agent for the Barkers, the 
Garrison, and the Massachusetts Path. Entering the Path, 
our party unexpectedly swerve to the right; and leaving 
Barker's behind them, pass from it into the lan.e now Allen 
Street — not until 1715 a public way — through a massive 
oaken pair of bars, evidently left open in anticipation of 



44 




i-^i 



THE LITTLE ESTATE 

their coming. The sun is just sinking behind the pines 
which stand over against Dancing PTill, as they cross the 
valley, climb the opposite slope, and turning the corner of an 
apple orchard, draw rein before the low, substantial dwelling 
which in his diary tJie Judge sets down as "Capt. Joshua 
Cushing's : Pembrook." 

Joshua Cushing, Esquire, was born at Scituate in the year 
1670, son of John and Sarah Cushing, and grandson of 
^Matthew the Planter. He received an education which en- 
abled him to fill with credit, during later life, the honorable 
post of a justice, but which did not save him from diversifving 
our town records with strange phrases, like "One scoar Blew 
F»irds," and his oft recurring "Apeirll." He had already 
removed from Scituate to Marshfield when, in January of 
1710, he bought for £1000 from Robert Barker of Duxbury, 
Blacksmith, the latter's ''farm or messuage at Mattakeesett, 
boTmded on Samuel Barker and the liane." The residents 
of Mattakeesett, as citizens of the ToAvn of Pembroke, hon- 
oured their new neighbor by choosing him a captain, and — 
with Francis Barker and Joseph Stockbridge as colleagues — 
a member of its first board of selectmen. 

At sunset on Saturday evening begins the Puritan Sab- 
bath. Of his entertainment during this period by the Cush- 
ings, Judge Sew all saw fit to say only, "Mr. Daniel Lewis, 
their Minister, preaches twice." We may picture, each to 
himself, those solemn functions. Promptly at stroke of the 
drum, rolling sonorously out over Highgary, and dying away 
in the valleys and distant woods below, w^ould issue in state 
from his front door the Captain, with Madam Cushing and 
the three justices their guests; and proceeding decorously 
southw^ard along the hillcrest pa^^t the minister's new house 
— built in 1713 on the west side of the Avenue near its junc- 
tion with Oldham Street — and so up the Common to the 
primitive Meeting House, take place in the family pew, there 
to sit silent in meditation until the deacons, Joseph Stock- 
bridge and Joseph Ford, rise from their seats beneath the 
high pulpit, and open service witli the Old Hundredth, duly 



46 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

"deaconing'* every line. The «ietails of the service we cannot 
come at by guessing; and the Judge — though he often re- 
corded at length such matters — has not thought it worth his 
while to set them down. Perhaps the young minister, then 
only three months settled and just turned twenty-seven, was 
abashed by the majesty of his congregation, and delivered a 
lialting message. Perhaps, giving rein for once to the genial 
ijn pulses which — we know — governed his conduct as a man 
and a neighbour, he failed to paint in sufficiently lurid 
colours the future woes and torments of the non-elect. Few 
men can speak interestingly to any audience upon any topic 
for two hours without ceasing: and even the most devout 
members of Mr. Lewis's flock must have sighetd in relief 
when at last the long sermon ended, the pitch-pipe sounded, 
and the deacons rose to lead them in chanting, as a final 
Te Deuvi, the rugged but noble lines of the eighteenth Psalm 
done into English verse by the Puritan poet, and blackprinted 
beneath a staff of rough-hewn, angular, unruly notes in the 
time-honoured Puritan hymnbook of Sternhold and Hopkins: 

"The Jjovd descended from above 

And bowed the Heavens most high, 
And underneath His feet He cast 
The darkness of the sky. 

"On Cherubs and on Cherubim 
Full royally He rode, 
.4nd on the wings of mighty Winds 
Came flying all abroad." 

Travel and neighborhood calls were taho'O on the Sabbath 
— two lengthy religious services leaving small space for the 
amenities of life; and after sundown, we may be sure, the 
Judge preferred talking home and foreign politics, flavoured 
with stout old cider from the Cushing orchard, to the un- 
certain quantities of an evening stroll. There existed in 
Pembroke at that period, however, a community which he 
earnestly desired to visit — the broken remnant of thg once 
powerful Massachusetts nation, now livLag under nominal 



46 




QQ 



c 
a 



^ 



O 



QQ 



THE LITTLE ESTATE 

control of their hereditary princess in the vicinity of Herring 
Ponds, Accordingly, before setting out for Plymouth next 
morning, Judge Sewall — in his own words — "Visited Abigail, 
Momontaug's widow, at Mattakeeae, a pleasant situation by 
the great Ponds." Tliis Abigail was daughter to Josias, 
called Wampatuck, sachem of the Massachusetts; and 
mother, by Jeremiah, of that Patience who later became, as 
Queen Sunny Eye, the central figure in Mrs. Hersey's 
wealth of Indian myth and legend: her father and husband 
were now dead; and she, with her daughter, dwelt probably 
on a point of land projecting into Furnace Pond near Mr. 
Charles Drake's, the traditionary camping ground at 
Namassakeesett of the Massachusetts' kings. Hence the 
Judge and his companions departed, that spring morning of 
two centuries ago; brimful, no doubt, of the weird ancient 
stories which we used to hear — it seems but yesterday — from 
Mrs. Hersey in the gloaming of her rich, old-fashioned sit- 
ting room : and as they vanish down a narrow, winding trail 
among the pines, to rejoin at a point some distance south of 
Barker's the Massachusetts Path, let us bid them Godspeed 
upon their journey, and ourselves return to a province 
widely strayed from — although, as you shall see, in itself suf- 
ficiently extensive — the Little estate. 

Of the house which Joshua Gushing bought from Eobert 
Barker, not much is known. It stood on, or very near, the 
site of the present dwelling; and in front of it, an apple 
orchard flourished, at least as early as 1712. Its owner was 
prominent in town affairs from the incorporation until his 
removal to Kingston in 1725. As town clerk 1714 — 1715, 
he opened the first extant volume of Pembroke's town meet- 
ing records; transcribing into a book which he obtained for 
the purpose, memoranda jotted down on many loose sheets 
by Francis Barker and Thomas Parris his predecessors. He 
represeoited Pembroke at General Court during 1716 
and 1723. He died 26 May, 1750, probably in Kingston, 
at the home of his son; but was buried in the cemetery at 
Pembroke, where his gravestone may still be sejen. Years 



47 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

before his death — in September of 1725 — he sold his Pem- 
broke estate of sevent^^-five acres, for £800 in bills of credit, 
to his future son-in-law, Isaac Little of Marshfield. 

The Honourable Isaac Little, Esquire — as his gravestone 
styles him — was born at Marshfield in 1678, son of Isaac 
and Bethia Little, and grandson of Thomas, Esquire, the 
ancestor, whose wife was Ann Warren, daughter of the May- 
flower Pilgrim. He was already a widower of nearly fifty, 
with three children — Otis, Nathaniel, and Mary, who in 1726 
married John Winslow. later General John ; when, during the 
spring or summer of that year, he became a citizen of Pem- 
broke. Two circumstances were, doubtless, chief among the 
causes of his removal. His sister Bethia had in 1711 come 
to live on what I have called the Anthony CoUamore estate, as 
the wife of Thomas Barker. Mr. Little himself had, so early 
as 1708, acquired a large interest in the furnace at Furnace 
Pond. A tract of tAventy acres at the outlet of this pond 
was obtained in 1702 bv Tjambert Despard from the Indian 
sachem or prince-consort Jeremiah — through a treacherous 
fraud, said Capt. Simeon Chandler, which has caused a curse 
to rest ever since upon the property, depriving the owner of 
all advantage from it, and slowly but surely blighting him 
and working his ruin. With funds contributed by the 
Barkers, and Michael Wanton of Scituate, Despard at once 
proceeded to establish a furnace on this site: the share of 
Samuel Barker — whose quarrel with his family thus adds 
another chapter to these Landmarls — was purchased by Mr. 
Little. Here, in 1722, he cast the famous iron fireback 
v/hicli could, not so very long ago, be seen in the Brook room 
of the Old Garrison. 

Two himdred years have little changed — ^have left even 
more completely retired and solitary — the ancient Furnace 
close. It lies at the head of a deep cove or bayou which 
makes out from the Furnace pond, winding far inland, and 
dividing, by a channel not so wide as steeply sunken, the 
lofty easterly shore. Wild hills surroimd it, their slopes 
shaggy with scrub-oaks, and crowned by towering pines. 



48 



THE LITTLE ESTATE 

The summer sun streams broadly through their branches on 
thickstrown needles; and in open glades of the oak forest, 
calls up tufts of hardy woodsgrass from a soil of coarse gravel 
and decaying boughs. Over these sunlit hills curves the 
Furnace way from Hobomoc; then dipping abruptly into a 
dusky glen, follows awhile the brook of Namassakeesett ; and 
ends at last beside a hollow oak that overhangs the channel. 
Only a slight depression of the earth, running parallel with 
its course, remains to tell us that we stand by the millrace, 
and that yonder flowed the ancient stream. Under foot, the 
ground shows a stain of iron ; and like the brookbed, abounds 
with slag and ore. Opposite rises the ruined foundation of 
the furnace structure; off at our right, the pond gleams 
through the trees; and on every side, unbroken save by rip- 
pling water closes around us — as in the poet's vision — 
"The forest's shadowy hush, 

Where spectres walk in sunless day, 
And in dark pool and branch and bush 

The treacherous will-o'-the-wisp lights play." 
The great oak binds a spell over its neighbourhood — a 
strong, living link uniting then and now. Indian fisher, 
forgeman of the colonial time, hunter, trapper, tourist — it 
has seen them all. Shielding watchers of the Indian weir it 
grew to maturity. Beneath its branches, French gold dazzled 
the Half-king that September day of 1701. The sooty 
furnaceman, stifling in summer heat, was grateful for its 
shade, and spared it from the fate which overtook its fellows. 
Back to its shelter, when the busy din ceased, and the forge 
lay cold forever, came the ancient queen of the Massachu- 
setts, to take by sufferance the alewives that in the old 
prosperous days of Indian ascendency had been hers by 
prerogative, or crouching beside its gnarled roots, to brood 
upon that lost ascendency, and lament the passing of her 
tribe. So ages and races speed. Six score years hath Sunny 
Eye been gathered to her fathers; but the old oak lives on, 
to successive generations a majestic reminder of the finality 
of Nature, and the briefness, not the vanity, of human 
things. 

49 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

Like the former o^-ner of his home|Stead, Isaac Little was 
much in public office. Throughout his political career in 
this town, he ran neck and neck with his neighbor Daniel 
liBwis, Esquire, and won from hira the palm of an election 
to General Court nine times: 1735; 1739—1743; 1747— 
1749. He is said to have been nothing if not litigious; 
furnace, houses, land, slaves, cattle — all were but means to 
one delightful end, the court at Plymouth : he and his neigh- 
bour Isaac Barker were forever in a lawsuit, and loved each 
other the better therefor. In Januarv of 1741, we find him 
prosecuting through the General Court — of which he was 
then a member — Sarah, wife of Nicholas Sever, Esquire, of 
Kingston, widow and administratrix of his brother Charles. 

Isaac Little married in 1732 Abigail, widow of Isaac 
Thomas, Gentleman, and daughter of Joshua Gushing. His 
children by this marriage were: Isaac, born 1738; Mercy, 
born 1741, who died unmarried in 1779; and Lemuel. He 
died 2 February, 1758, at the age of eighty. 

A very partial idea of the extent of Mr. Little's holdings 
in real and jiersonal property, may be had from his will, 
dated 15 August, 1751, an ancient draft of which is still in 
the possession of his descendant Mr. Samuel Little of Pem- 
broke. To his wife and the six children he devises and 
bequeaths five slaves — not to speak of other personal property 
— "Aesop my manservant, my negro woman Relah, my negro 
boy Saul, my negro girl Rose, and my negro woman Dinah;" 
two farms besides the homestead; meadow, woodland, salt 
n'arsh, and cedar swamp in the Old Colony; lands in Dart- 
mouth and North Yarmouth; and several large uncultivated 
tracts in Maine, including two islands of 300 acres and three 
acres respectively. The acreage of two farms, and of the land 
in Dartmouth, he does not estimate: the remaining tracts 
amount to 9831 acres. Certainly the whole estate deviseid by 
the "Will must have exceeded ten thousand acres, or nearly 
sixteen square miles — the area of a goodsizeid township: and 
to the sons Otis and Nathaniel, he had already given "very 
considerable." 



60 







s 



THE LITTLE ESTATE 

A codicil, dated 21 January 1758, is not without interest: 
''Whereas since my will one negro girl has died, named 
Dinah, that I gave to my daughter Marcy; as to the said 
Dinah deceased, there is another girl since born of my negro 
woman named Rose, another Dinah, which I give to my 
daughter Mercy in lieu of the other Dinah deceased." 
Nothing could show better than this one allusion, that the 
citizens of Pembroke were once quite as fully committed to 
the practice of negro slavery as were ever their brethren of 
the South : another document may be cited to prove that they 
were vigorous in leading the turn of the tide. In 1773 the 
negroes of Massachusetts caught the liberty fever, and pre- 
sented a petition to have their fetters knocked off. On 17 
May, 1773, the inhabitants of Pembroke addressed a 
respectfully suggestive letter to their representative, John 
Turner, Esquire ; which may be read at length in the Boston 
Gazette oi 14 June 1773: "We think the negro petition 
reasonable, agreeable to natural justice and the precepts of 
the Gospel; and therefore advise that, in concurrence with 
the other worthy members of the Assembly, you find a way 
in which they may be freed from slavery, without a wrong to 
their present masters, or injury to themselves,— -to the end 
that a total abolition of slavery may, in due tirae^ take place. 
Then, we trust, we may with humble confidence look to the 
Great Arbiter of Heaven and earth, expecting that he will, 
in his own due time, look upon our affliction, and in the way 
of his Providence, deliver us from, the insults, the grievances, 
and the impositions we so justly complain of." Pembroke 
in this resolve took the initiative step, it is said, toward the 
abolition of slavery in Massachusetts. 

The homestead of Isaac Tattle — which he divided between 
his sons Isaac and Lemuel — was, by Lemuel's deed of 1784, 
reunited in the elder branch of the family : the house had, I 
think, been Isaac's from the first. He is styled, in early legal 
documents, a gentleman; and the fact that among the 
worthies of Mattakeesett I find no further notice of him — 
except that inscribed in his own elegant handwriting upon 



61 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

our parish records^ — may not be altogether owing to his early 
death in 1774, since the inventory of his estate shows him 
to have been insolvent. His wife was Lydia, daughter of 
Deacon Isaac Hatch of Pembroke: of their children, only 
Isaac, Charles, and Abigail, wife of Bailey Hall, left descen- 
dants here. 

Their son Isaac, born 32 June 1761, seems to have restored 
the fallen fortunes of his grandfather. Legal documents 
style him "Housewright ;" and to him in this capacity — and 
to his bride. Wealthy or Welthea Winsor of Duxbury — ^we 
owe the present house. It was built on the site of the former 
dwelling — destroyed by fire — soon after their marriage in 
1788, under direction of Mrs. Little; who thus, as her 
husband was afterward pleased to remark, wilfully deprived 
herself of a housewife's chief solace in domestic cares — un- 
stinted liberty to find fault with her field of operation. Its 
peculiar style of roof was doubtless her choice: this has, of 
late years, won for the house — according to Mr. Baker — the 
distinction of being one of the eight gambrel-roofed houses 
now standing in Plyiuouth County. 

An interesting suggestion of the fate which befell Esquire 
Little's holdings at the East^vard, is given us by his 
grandson in a note appended to his copy of the Will: 
''Boston: June 5th 1810. Called on Joseph Pierce, who 
showed me a map of the land given to Governor Winslow's 
wife, and says it comes under the Brown's grant from the 
Indians. He says Brown's title is disputed, and a Capt. 
Noble is now at Wiscassett trying sd title in the Supreme 
court: there is an immense number of squatters on sd land, 
and Flagg of Worcester, who went there for land belonging 
to the Drown family, was set on an island and refused to be 
taken off. William Maclintock of Bristol knows about the 
thing; if he would disclose what he loiows. Advises me to 
converse with Noble of Charlestown. To converse further 
with Pierce and view the map.'' Mr. Little lived to the good 
old age of eighty-five, dying in 1846; but so far as I know, 
his acquaintance with the lost baronies of York, Gorges, 



62 



THE LITTLE ESTATE 

Round Pond, Broad Cove, and Hobbomock Point, never pro- 
gressed further than the pretensions of Captain Noble, and 
Joseph Pierce's map. 

Of his sons, Capt. Otis — bom 31 May 1809 — succeeded to 
the homestead. The Captain won his title through a 
command in the Washington Rangers, a stout old ante helium 
military organization; in which he and my grandfather 
AVhitman remained the good comrades they had already 
become on their early forays against the Brookwatcher : his 
three commissions are still treasured by his descendants. 
Like many another son of the Old Colony, he was employed, 
during most of his life, in the navy yard at Charlestown. 
Shipbuilding — once a flourishing industry along North River 
and the shores of Duxbury Bay — met its death-blow in the 
tremendous gales or hurricanes of 9 October 1804 and 23 
September 1815; which, by destroying its material, literally 
withered the business to the root, and compelled its craftsmen 
either to abandon their old calling or, failing that, to emi- 
grate. Scores — nay, hundreds of skilled workmen, and of 
young fellows bom with an aptitude for naval mechanics, 
were thus lost to the town. 

The wife of Capt. liittle was Betsey, daughter of Isaac 
llaskins of South Scituate. Their daughter, Anna, married 
Dr. Stephen Cushing, and resides in Dorchester : to their son, 
Samuel, upon the Captain's death in 1895, the homestead 
descended. Before the house, on the brow of the hill, stni 
fetands the ancient apple orchard : and if you will visit it, as 
I have done, some mellow afteanoon in late October, when 
leaves are carpeting the grassy Avenue, and the first flocks 
of ivampatvkh fly southward overhead, it will call up for you 
— as it did for me — the dead ghosts of the Squire and Aesop, 
of the Captain and Madam Little, and many another, and 
the old plantation days of long ago ; and will make you forget 
that the traditional beverage of those days may henceforth 
be had only by license, and that a Merry Go Round now 
flourishes in Pembroke during the day on which Puritan 
prejudice prevented Judge Sewall from even paying a visit 



63 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

to its site. That the treeis of the orchard are those planted 
by William Tubbs, I do not warrant; certainly the place is the 
same: thus from the soil — if not from the boughs — which 
yielded fruit to Joshua Gushing, apples are still gathered by 
his descendants in the sixth and seventh generations. 



64 



V. The Judge Whitman House. 



Jura dabat legesque viris. 

One of the very oldest houses in town stands on Centre 
Street, not far from the Barker place — a large two-story 
mansion, with long windows and winding staircase. Near 
by, several ancient buttonwood or sycamore trees rear theii 
broken tops high in air, and a halo of old glor}^ seems to hang 
about the place. Well may this bg so. Tradition tells us 
that the house itself — originally a '^alf house" — was built 
two hundred years ago and m.ore; and that the later addi- 
tions, bringing the main structure to its present form, were 
made soon after 1790. Certainly the site dates from the 
seventeenth century. 

A settler in this region who followed close on the trace of 
the Barkers, was Abraham Pearce. To him was early granted 
an estate bordering on the brook of "Xainatuckeset" a short 
distance above the Barker site. He cleared a farm, and chose 
for his homestead a plot of rising ground, halfway between 
the Garrison and the hill where Pembroke church was one 
day to stand. The family prospered ; more land was granted 
them; and by 1712, their holdings included a large part of 
what is now Pembroke Centre. Abraham, the father, seems 
to have died before this date : his property was divided among 
his sons; of whom Abraham held the land on Highgary, and 
John — the youngster who had his ten shillings "for sweeping 
ye Meeting House" — became o^ner of the homestead. In 
1714 — or, as the deed has it, "in ye thirteenth year of our 
Sovereign Lady queen Ann''— John Peirce sold his father's 
farm of twenty acres for £155 to "Nehemiah Cushing of 
Pembroke, insuring his mother, Hannah, a right of domici- 
lium in the house. 



ANCIENT LANDMAEKS OF PEMBEOKE 

Capt. Nehemiah Gushing was a descendant of the 
distinguished Gushing family of Hingham. He was born 
there in 1689, eldest son of Theophiius Gushing; and married 
Sarah, daughter of Nathaniel Nichols. In 1714 Nathaniel 
— with his nephew, Ephraim Nichols — removed to Pembroke, 
and bought the Samuel Barker estate, now owned by Mr. 
Edwin P. Litchfield; Nehemiah was persuaded to follow. 
His fortunes prospered there. He built and operated a tan- 
nery near the brook, dealt largely in real estate, and served 
lis adopted town in many public offices. He was 
represetntative, 1730 and 1721; treasurer, 1719-1738; 
selectman, 1734-1738; and iriodefrator at nineteen March 
raeetings, 1734-1755. For many years he was in command of 
Pembroke's military company, and thence had the title by 
which he was familiarly known. His children were: Sarah, 
1711; Elijah, 1712; Eachel, 1714; Mary, 1717; Theophiius, 
1719; Nehemiah, 1721; and Deborah, 1724. His wife, 
Sarah, died in 1749; and he married Hannah, widow of 
Joseph Thomas of Plympton, mother of Josiah and Joseph 
Thomas. 

Nehemiah Gushing, Jr., married Sarah Humphrey, 
and had Eachel, born 1742, who died unmarried; Anna; 
Nabby; William; William second; Nathaniel; and Thomas 
Humphrey, born 1757. Of these, William — styled "Gentle- 
man" — dwelt in the ancient house which still stands on 
Washington Street in North Pembroke, at the turning off 
of the Marshfield road; and which is still known as his 
homestead, although it passed long since from the Gushing 
family. Nehemiah Junior died "in His Majesty's service, at 
Crown Point,'* 12 January 1762, leaving his wife and his 
young children to their grandfather's care. She it is, accord- 
ing to legend, who later went forth a bride to meet her 
second husband, clad in her under garment ; and thus evaded 
operation of the old law whereby the second husband 
assumes the former's debts, unless the bride goes to mqet 
him clad only in a petticoat. This piece of apparel was put 
on — jealously observes the family historian — over her bridal 
drees. 



66 



THE JUDGE WHITMAN HOUSE 

Eachel Gushing, daughter of the first Nehemiah, married 
Capt. Edward I'homas, son of Lieut. Isaac of the West 
Parish, and was ancestress of the Gushing and Thomas 
families of northern Hanson. Tlieir daughter Rachel, bom 
1736, married Josiah Thomas ; who in 1768, for £133, bought 
the Gushing homestead from his stepfather and grandfather- 
in-law, "old Nehemiah Gushing of all," still living in 
Pembroke at a green old age of eighty years. Josiah Thomas 
continued the work of the ancient tannery : the depression in 
the ejarth where stood his lime-kiln, is still to be seen. The 
old captain and his widow passed away, and the younger 
members of the family were scattered. Josiah, it is said, 
grew discontented with the quiet, uneventful life led by 
Pembroke folk after the stir of the Revolution was over; sold 
his place in 1790; and did as many of his townsmen were 
soon to do, removing with all his household to people the 
wild lands of Maine. The tanyard was sold to his neighbor, 
Deacon Gideon Thomas "\\'hite. 

The next owner of the dwelling was Rev. Kilbom 
Whitman; who came to Pembroke in 1787 as assistant to 
Thomas Smith, then over eighty years old. Mr. Smith died 
next 3'^ear, and Mr. Whitman continued as pastor until 1796 ; 
he then began the study of law with his brother, Benjamin. 
Meanwhile, in 1792, he had sold to his brother for £18 the 
homestead of one acre; a y^ar later, he bought it back for 
£129. As Benjamin Whitman once resided and practised 
law in this town, an account of his life will not be out of 
place among its annals. 

Hon. Benjamin Whitman, born in 1768 at Bridgewater, 
prepared for Brown University almost unaideid by his 
parents, and graduated in 1788: after studying law, he 
settled first in Pembroke, and removed in 1793 to Hanover; 
where he built the house near the Bridge known as the 
Bigelow place. He was prominent in town affairs ; his office 
became a favorite with students, of whom Hon. Ezekiel 
Whitman was one; he was long postmaster, and first captain 
of the Hanover Artillery Company. The uniform prescribed 



57 



ANCIENT LANDMAEKS OF PEMBROKE 

for members of the company was : "a coat of blue cloth, faced 
with red; brass buttons; buff pants and vest; white leather 
belt; brass breastplate; old-fashioned cocked hats of fur, sur- 
mounted by a black phmie tipped with red." In the autumn 
of 1803, "driven by the bitterness of democracy," he removed 
to Boston; was long a representative of that city in General 
Court, and president of its board of health; and was twelve 
years presiding justice of the Boston Police Court. He died 
in 1840, having for years been recognized as one of the ablest 
members of the Massachusetts bar. His brief tenure honors 
the Cushing property; which in 1793 became the homestead 
of his elder brother, Kilbom. 

Elilborn Whitman, son of Zecheriah and Abigail Kilbom 
of Bridgewater, graduated from Harvard Collegei in 1785, 
and was fitted for the ministry by Pev. William Shaw at 
Marshfield ; there he became acquainted with Elizabeth, eldest 
daughter of Isaac Winslow. In December of 1787, he 
settled at Pembroke; and the next year, married Miss Wins- 
low. She was a descendant from Gov. Edward Winslow, the 
Pilgrim, through Gov. Josiah, Hon. Isaac, Gen. John, and 
Dr. Isaac; and from Capt. Thomas Barker, an early owner 
of the Collamore estate. In 1796 Mr. Whitman retired from 
the ministry, and took up the law, studying with his brother 
at Hanover. He was admitted to the bar in 1798, and 
attended all the courts of southeastern Massachusetts: he 
retained his farm and ofiice in Pembroke, and acted as rep- 
resentative fourteen years; selectman twenty years, 1799- 
1829; and moderator at twenty-seven March meetings, 1799- 
1830. He was associate judge of the Court of Common 
Pleas, when Hon. Nahum Mitchell was its Chief Justice; 
was many years attorney for Plymouth County, and overseer 
of the Marshpee and Herring Pond Indians. 

Judge Whitman had many students at his office, some of 
whom became leaders at the bar. He was often called upon 
to give public addresses, and respond to toasts at dinners; it 
is told that at a banquet in Hanover, he once gave tliis toast: 
"The Hanover Artillery Company — may their pieces be 



68 



THE JUDGE WHITMAN HOUSE 

loaded with true New England principles, wadded with 
Jacobinism, and aimed point-blank against every aspiring 
demagogue !" On many another occasion, the Judge proved 
himself a good exponent of rich old-fashioned oratory. 

"Mr. Whitman" — says his biographer — "was at first 
Congregational, but later became Unitarian, in his belief. 
As a preacher, he had fine presence^ was forcible, elegant, 
and popular: as a judge, he was upright, dignified, able, and 
urbane; as an advocate, he was ready, witty, elegant, anld 
courteous, popular with the court, and successful with the 
jury: his marked characteristics were fine presence, a good 
conversation, happy wit, and generous hospitality. Among 
his frequent guests were Hon. Daniel Webster, Judge Strong, 
and many members of bench and bar ; and his house was the 
centre of a large circle of friends, who always found cordial 
welcome there. Many anecdotes of his bright sayings and 
ready wit, were repeated by his acquaintance." 

There were bom to the Judge six sons and five daughters. 
The eldest daughter, Elizabeth Winslow, married Samuel 
King Williams, Esquire, of Boston ; and was mother of Rev. 
Pelham — who made his summer home on the Stockbridge 
estate in Greenbush — and Maj. Samuel K. Sarah Ann 
married Hon. Benjamin Eandall, and lived at Bath: her 
descendants are in Boston. Caroline died single, at Pem- 
broke, 9 March 1891. LFaria Winslow was an eager student 
of history, and genealogist of the family; she married 
Frederick Bryant of New Bedford, and has posterity there. 
Isaac Winslow Wliitman, Esquire, the eldest child, graduated 
at Harvard in 1808, and practised law in Nantucket: his 
brother Charles Kilborn shared his oflQce. The first James 
Hawley died in infancy. William Henry, Esquire, studied 
law with Thomas Prince Beal of Kingston, and held for 
many years the office of Clerk of the Courts at Plymouth; 
where his descendants are. 

John Winslow, Esquire, perhaps the most gifted of Judge 
Whitman's children, followed the family profession, and 
practised law in Boston. "He was very brilliant," said Mrs. 



59 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

Hersey; *T)ut he was very bad." He added not a little to 
the glory of letters which invests the old mansion now before 
us, by his marriage with Sarah Helen, daughter of Nicholas 
Power of Providence — a girl as gifted as he; beautiful, 
accomplished in many literatures, and herself a poet never 
of light esteem. Of him and his family shq wrote thus to 
the historian of the Winslows in 1878: "My husband had two 
brothers older than himself, Isaac and Charles; and two 
younger than himself, James Hawley Whitman and William 
Henry Whitman. The two former are dead, the two latter 
are still living: James, as a lawyer, living at the old home- 
stead in Pembroke; William Henry is, I think, now 
practising law in Hingham, Mass. Either of these gentlemen 
could give you better and more reliable information about the 
Whitmans than I could do. My husband, John Winslow 
Whitman, graduated at Brown University in 1818. He 
practised law in Barnstable and afterwards in Boston. In 
1828 we were married. In 1833 he died, at the age of 34, 
in the house of his father at Pembroke. We had no children. 
I believe he was the favorite grandchild of Dr. Isaac Wins- 
low, and passed many of his early years in the old homestead 
of the Winslows at Marshfield. I visited the house with him 
just before the old place was sold and passed from the 
family into other hands. Some of the antique furniture 
still remained in the lovely old house — heavy oaken chairs 
and tables too ponderous to go wandering about tha world 
in search of new homes. The old family pictures, some of 
which are now in possession as you know of the Historical 
Society in Boston, were still hanging on the wainscoted 
walls of the great West parlor ; and beneath was an old spinet 
played on a hundred years before, by one of the stately ladies 
who still stood there in stiff brocade — and smiled down on 
me, somewhat austerely from the dusky walls." 

In the death of her husband, Mrs. Whitman gave herself 
more unreservedly than before to literature. She had already 
published several poems, and won recognition among Ameri- 
can authors, when in 1848 she met Edgar Allan Poe. Their 



60 




Frances Kjay yy hitman 

Mrs. Hersey 

1813- 1899 



From a Miniature painted 
by Mrs. Hersey 



THE JUDGE WHITMAN HOUSE 

acquaintance soon resulted in an engagement of marriage. 
Poe loved with all the impassioned tendemees of his nature: 
Mrs. Whitman's regard for him, if calmer, was not less 
sincere. Their engagement was broken, in a bitter and pain- 
ful interview, by her family; as Poe sings, in the free, 
haunting allegory which — Mrs. Whitman herself affirms — 
was written in memory of their separation : 
"So that her high-born kinsmen came 
And took her away from me." 
I'oe died the same year; cherishing to the end his desperate 
love for her whom pride of race, and a distrust — possibly 
exaggerated — of his own moral character, combined to part 
from him. Mrs. Whitman survived her brother poest and 
lover almost thirty years, and died beautiful in 1878, at 
seventy-five. Her poems, which appeared piecemeal during 
her lifetime, were published collectively in 1879. They have 
established surely her rank among the second order of Amer- 
ican poets; and one of them, at least, must always find an 
honored place in our anthologies. I have open before me 
'ATiittier's Songs of Three Centuries, at the lines beginning: 
"I love to wander through the woodlands hoary 
In the soft light of an autumnal day." 
As their slow melody unfolds, I seem to glimpse — through 
the mists of many autumns — the gentle widow wandering in 
quiet reverie by the brook and meadow and lonely hillside 
of her paradise. I like to believe that its "woodlands hoary" 
t'.re those of Mattakeesett ; that its "loved, familiar paths" 
thread the neighborhood of the grand old house where, in 
the hot stillness of a July noon, AVinslow Whitman died 
among his kindred, and where long years ago Captain 
Cushing's buttonwoods guarded the sleep of Annabel Lee. 

Judge Whitman died in 1835; and his widow, in 1854. 
The house became the home of their son James Hawley 
Whitman, Esquire, better known as "Jim Holly." 

After his death, it was occupied solely by his sister 
Frances Gay, widow of Capt. Jacob Hersey of Han- 
over; who lived there for many years. She was 



61 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

a woman of great talents — a teacher of dra\ving and 
mathematics in New Bedford, and later of drawing 
in Pembroke. She won fame by her illustrations of subjects 
from Egyptian history and theology, in which abstruse topics 
she was much interested ; these miniatures were bequeathed 
to the library of Harvard College. Astronomy and ancient 
history also, she found prime attractions: and there reposed 
on her table a wonderful set of Japanese chessmen, which she 
handled with daring and considerable skill. Her mind was a 
treasure house of tradition and Indian legend ; and for many 
of the stories now current in the name of history, she is 
responsible. On the wide tops of her high, square gateposts, 
she used to feed whole flocks of hungry winter birds; and a 
host of squirrels, kittens, and other helpless little creatures, 
were among her pensioners. AVhen over eighty, she was still 
frequently seen at church or a social gathering, and remained 
an active member of the village to the last. Her death oc- 
curred during the great storm of February in 1899, and her 
funeral procession passed through snow waist-deep. 

He who writes of Mrs. Hersey, will not readily win 
forgiveness if, having means, he fails to ])resent in her own 
language proof of her rare gift for story-telling. Let us 
introduce ourselves to the ancient lady toward nightfall on 
some misty November afternoon: and sitting by the many- 
paned west casement, he^r — as the light fades across her 
meadows, and the hill-pines opposite melt into clouds of 
evening — the curious tradition which she tells concerning the 
last of the Mattakeesetts, and naively entitles: 

A LEGEND OF THE HOBOMOC 

"Most of my readers will recollect, lying in the highlands 
of Pembroke, a quiet little pond, embosomed among its hills 
like a pearl amid emeralds, by the name of 'Hobomoc'. On 
the south, a grove of native oak stretches far down the vale, 
vocal with nature's minstrelsy — the home of the hare and 
rnerry squirrel, where the cottage maiden gathered her 
earliest tribute of Mayflowers and Wood Anemone; a place 



62 



THE JUDGE WHITMAN HOUSE 

beautiful in its stillness and seclusion, and hallowed by the 
memory of the noble race that once peopled it« leafy palaces. 
"Peace to the manes of the Mattakeesetts ! The echo of 
their footsteps has long since died away before the steady 
march of civilization ; leaving no trace but the half buried 
tomahawk and the broken mounds of their dead, or some wild 
legend handed down from generation to generation, now fast 
fading from the mind of their paleface successor. With the 
mighty oaks that shelter their deserted graves, the last monu- 
ments of the departed will pass away. 

* * * * • 

"In the centre of this pond, once dwelt — according to 
Indian tradition — a huge stump, which rose about three feet 
above the surface of the water. The pond, having no outlet, 
and being fed by secret springs, is subject to considerable 
rise and fall, as summer heat or rain prevails. But whatever 
uas the height of the water, in the same proportion rose the 
mysterious stump ; or however low the ebb, still sank the 
obstinate thing: until the Indians — those acute observers of 
nature — could endure its self-willed conduct no longer. 
Kesolving to be satisfied, they called a coimcil; and after 
performing with due solemnity their war-dance and other 
rites, concluded that their Chief, with twelve of his braves, 
should forthwith proceed to interrogate the object of theiir 
curiosity on its strange proceeding. 

"Accordingly, the whole tribe having assembled on the 
t-urrounding hills, these deputies embarked in four canoes, 
and cautiously drew near the white belt encircling the 
stump; which proved to be of thickly clustered lilies. The 
Chief first approached : and giving the stump a hearty salu- 
tation with his war-club, demanded to know the cause of its 
mysterious conduct. The stump nodded, but gave no answer. 
The second crew approached: this time a still harder blow 
v/as given; but still no answer came. 

* « * * * 

"The fourth canoe now approached; in the prow stood a 



63 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

tall, athletic warrior, armed with a raassive war-club, from 
which he delivered a tremendous stroke. The stump returned 
a hollow groan; and nodded so violently that the whole pond 
trembled with agitation, and the lilies danced, shouted, and 
ihrew up the spray in their glee. The terror-struck Indians 
fled, concluding that the pretended stump was in reality 
Hobomoc, their evil spirit, and the lilies, his paleface chil- 
dren, whom he brought in the big canoe over the great water, 
and — knowing they would find no companion among red 
men — kept confined around him, that he might have them 
under his more immediate tuition and control; concluding 
also, with prophetic foresight, that should he release them, 
their own ruin would be inevitable. 

"They never ventured on the pond again: but regularly 
offered up sacrifice to Hobomoc in the grove, to induce him 
to keep his emissaries strictly guarded ; and threw a portion 
of com, venison, and tomahawks into the water, that they 
might not be tempted on shore, in quest of food, and make 
war — but might 'scalp each other', if they felt disposed to, 
'and not red man.' 

"The Indians, for many a long year, lived in peace and 
quietness, offering their annual tribute to Hobomoc, and des- 
troying, or shunning with superstitious dread, every paleface 
that came across their path. zVt length, a paleface came who 
won their confidence, and 'was kind to Indian, wanted to buy 
land and live with Indian, and give him gun and blanket and 
kcnikinit (tobacco). Indian like gun, like blanket, and 
kenikinit; but no like to sell land, no like paleface live with 
Indian. So paleface give Indian gun and blanket, and go 
back to his own wigwam, by side of the great-voiced waters. 
Soon great sickness come, and most all Indian die.' This 
plague was the dreaded small-pox : which, conveyed — perhaps 
unintentionally — by the blankets or clothes given to the In- 
dians, destroyed two thirds of their tribe. 

"Terror-strack, with a double offering, they fled to the 
pond to appease the wrath of Hobomoc. The stump and 
lilies had disappeared, Hobomoc was not there, and his pale- 



64 




■T3 

C 



5 



THE JUDGE WHITMAN HOUSE 

face children were scattered. Sad and heart-brokeoi, they 
returned to their wigwams, and prepared for departure; 
fc-aying, 'where Hobomoc takes paleface, Indian no live.' 

"Silently they gathered the scattered remnant of their 
tribe, and prepared for departure. Slowly they approached 
the wigwam of Sunny Eye — last queen of the Mattakeesetts 
— known to us as 'Queen Patience'; but the blue smoke still 
curled round its dark roof, her little harvest was still im- 
gathered. She came forth to meet them ; and pointing to the 
south, said: 'Farewell brother, go, find new hunting ground 
in the far valley of the sweet-water, where the form of the 
paleface hides not the smile of the Great Spirit from the 
wigwam. But no child of the great Wampatuck, whose 
wigwam boasted one hundred scalps taken in battle, before 
whom the black bear fled, and the red deer died; shall ever 
fly before paleface or Hobomoc. I die by the graves of my 
Fathers.' In vain they threatened and entreated; she turned 
to her wig^vam, and was seen no more. Slowly they circled 
her dwelling, and chanted her death song, believing that the 
great sickness would soon take her to the hunting ground 
beyond the sky, where no paleface comes; and as they passed 
her door, laid a portion of corn and venison on the mat before 
it, that she might have food when no longer able to hunt or 
fish. 



"'Queen Patience' lived to an advanced age, on the little 
point of land projecting into Furnace Pond at the left, as you 
pass up along the road from this town to Hanson. Her 
funeral was attended in 1788, by the minister of the First 
Parish in Pembroke." 

For some years before Mrs. Hersey's death, the western 
lialf of the house was occupied by Mr. B. Franklin Paige — 
now of Hanson — a skilful farmer and dairyman; who made 
thg old fai-m "blossom like the rose." About 1900 he re- 
moved, and the place was held by Mr. Frank Delano. It 



65 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

v»as recently purchased by Mr. Herbert Barker, a native of 
England who with his family now resides there. 

The great buttonwoods still tower by the wayside, flank- 
ing the ancient thoroughfare^ and suggesting — eveiQ 
more strongly in decay — comparison with those best 
loved scenes of Mrs. Hersey's musing, the pillared 
avenues of Karnak and Heliopolis, and the stately 
propylaea which guard access to its temple of the 
Sun. Several of the older trunks were cut down late in the 
last century, and their butts taken to the sawmill. In the 
interior of one of tliese, the saw struck a large iron ring, 
embedded in the wood; to which — it is said — Mrs. Hersey, 
then Fanny "\^1iitman, was in the habit of hitching her 
saddle-horse. Over this ring the layers of fresh wood had 
grown inches deep ; thus registering the long lapse of years 
since Judge Whitman's family were leaders in county society, 
and the favored of his children sat on Daniel Webster's knee. 



86 




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VI. The Burton Homestead. 



The stream is brightest at its spring. 

And blood is not liJce wine; 
Nor honored less than he who heirs 

Is he who founds a line. 

Full lightly shall the prize be won. 

If love be Fortune's spur; 
And never maiden stoops to him 

Who lifts himself to her. 

Oh, rank is good, and g-old is fair. 

And high and loir mate ill; 
But love has never Icnown a law 

Beyond, its own siveei will! 

The early Barker grants included land on either side of 
A^amassakeesett or Herring Brook; and on the west, extended 
as far as the slopes of Highgary — the hill where Pembroke 
Meeting House now stands. Most of this hill remained, for 
a good many years, part of the commons of Duxbury and 
Marshfield ; and it was probably not uT\til about the year 
1700 that, in an allotment of Duxbury commons, the 
southern portion was set off to one Abraham Pearce or 
Peirce. On this tract, in due course of time, was to be built 
the large, square yellow house — home of the late George H. 
Ryder, Esquire, which stands in Pembroke Centre at the 
corner of Centre and Mattakeesett Streets. 

Abraham Pearce came an early settler to Namassakeesett. 
He was one of those sturdy old pioneers, warriors against the 
Wilderness, whose forward march was heralded by no notes 
of fife and clarion, only by the crashing of fallen trees and 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

the clear, full, nniemitting stroke of the woodmani''s axe, 
ringing through the desert places of the forest, and sounding, 
trumpet-like, the advancei of a new civilization "against the 
hosts of Chaos and the Dark." Their lives were set amid 
the terrors of an untenanted wilderness, or the still greater 
terrors of a wilderness haunted by the unseen menace of cruel 
foes. They must till the rough uplands for a living daily, 
and find neighbors in savages and the wild beasts of the 
wood. 

Preceded in his settlement of this region only by the 
Barkers, Abraham Pearce had his homestead where the 
Judge Wliitman house now stands. Other lands were added 
to that nucleus; and by the year 1700, he was owner of a 
considerable estate. Living nearest the meeting house, he 
had it in charge; and on the ancient records are several 
entries of "ten shillings paid to John Pearce (his son) for 
sweeping ye Meeting House." Early in the history of this 
town, his son Abraham sold it a plot of ground which became 
])art of the present cemetery, and in 1730 conveyed the ad- 
joining lot of twenty-five acres for £350 to Thomas Burton 
of Duxbury. Real estate was, evidently, a paying form of 
investment in those days. Pembroke was prosperous, new 
residents were moving in from all sides, and the Hill was a 
spot coveted for dwellings. This place preceded Brockton in 
disputing with Plymouth the honor of possession of the 
county seat, for, as is recorded in one of the earliest town 
books, — 

"On March ye Second Day 1729-30 ye town Voted that 
ye Represente is to use his utmost Indavr at ye generll Court 
or Elsewhere to have ye Courts or some of ym movd to this 
Town for ye fiiture. 

Thos Parris 
Town Clerk" 
This vote was several times repeated; it expressed, not a 
forlorn hope, but a confideoit expectation, on the part of 
Pembroke people; and the motion which it embodied, re- 
ceived wide — though inefPectual — support among the 
inhabitants of neighboring towns. 

68 




Isaac Jennings 

1808 - 1873 



THE BURTON HOMESTEAD 

Thomas Burton erected a house on his newly acquired 
property, and settled there. He was a man of high family 
and much learning. His father was Stephen Burton, a 
prominent citizen of Rhode Island; his mother, Elizabeth, 
only daughter of Governor Josiah Winslow of Marshfield. 
I^he fatlier of Josiah was Edward Winslow, alternate of 
Bradford as governor; and he married Penelope, daughter of 
Herbert PeJham, Esquire, first treasurer of Harvard College. 
Their grandson, '^Phomas Burton, received a liberal education, 
ifiarried Alice Wadsworth of Duxbury, and became the suc- 
cessor of Thomas Parris, first schoolmaster of Pembroke. 
He was town clerk 1733-40, and his fine handwriting is con- 
spicuous upon our records. He had four daughters and no 
sons: Martha died in childhood; Penelope married Seth 
Jacob; Eleanor married Nathaniel Bishop, and bocame — 
through an intermarriage between the families of Bishop and 
Jennings — ancestress of that Isaac Jennings who kept so 
many years "The Union Store" close by the house of his 
fathers, and who was never known to praise (though he 
often blamed) the quality of his merchandise, or to change 
the price of an article once marked by his hand. 

Elizabeth — the youngest daughter, born in 1737 — was her 
father's favorite. She was known through tlie vicinity as 
Mistress Betty Burton; fond tradition tells of tlie finery 
lavished upon her — "trunks full of stiff brocade," says an old 
legend, "and a quart bowl of diamond rings!" She was 
sought in marriage by Daniel Bonney, a poor house-carpenter 
of the neighborhood; the lady favored his suit, but worldly 
position interposed. "You must give her up, Daniel," said 
the father, wamingly; "Betty will never make a poor man's 
wife." But the young man persisted; swearing that, if she 
married him, she should never even bring the water to wash 
her hands — which proved literally true. At last her father's 
consent was won. He recorded their marriage with his own 
hand in the family Bible, and added devoutly "Pray God to 
Bless ym." 

On the eastern slope of the hill, near Thomas Burton's, 



69 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

stood in his day — and still stands, though gnarled and wind- 
boaten by the storms of two centuries — the noted Sabbaday 
Orchard. Matter of legend for generations, this spot is the 
only haunted region for miles around. Dating, undoubtedly, 
from the seventeenth century, the Orchard is said to have 
been planted by Huguenot fugitives from persecution before 
vlie landing of the Pilgrims. In former days many a mother 
hushed her children with weird tales of the wandering ghosts 
of these exiles^ which roamed among the gnarled old trees at 
midnight, and would not be laid. 

Le^s known to fame than Sabbaday, but no less richly 
fctored with historic association, is the Wallis Orchard. Iso- 
lated among thick woods which stretch eastward from the 
Barker homestead, it is approached only by a narrow lane or 
cartway leading from the northerly road. As the lane climbs 
upward from the valley of liittle Pudding Brook, the ground 
— which has been swampy, and close set with underbrush — 
becomes open, hilly, and columned by forest trees. The site of 
the Orchard itself is marked by traces of what must once have 
been an extensive clearing. Great stone walls — now fallen, 
or fast falling, into ruins — divide the ancient fields. Among 
the wild poverty-grass grow savins and paperbirchee, wdth at 
intervals a giant pasture pine. Hightop sweetings — trees 
peculiar, it is said, to Huguenot orchards — are still to be 
found in this neighborhood, although few and far between. 
Here settled in the seventeenth century, according to an old 
tradition, the family of Wallis. The same tradition would 
have us believe that in one of the earlier struggles 
between Indian and colonist, this remote household fell vic- 
tims to an invading warparty; that Wallis himself alone 
survived the massacre; and that he continued to dwell upon 
his now desolate homestead until disease or the infirmities of 
age, or some disaster incident to the remoteness of his habi- 
tation, occasioned his death. For a considerable time there- 
after, the farm — which had passed into strangers' hands— 
lay vacant. In the year 1755, the French Neutrals were 
driven from Acadia, and dispersed among the Provinces : 



70 



THE BUETON HOMESTEAD 

Wallis Orchard became the home of one of Pe^ibroke's quota, 
Pierre — or, as his English neighbours soon learned to call 
him, Peter — Pauline. The ruinous old house afforded him 
shelter, and a scanty livelihood might still be won from the 
adjacent soil — sorrowful consolations withal of banishment 
from Acadia's rich meadows and homelike cottages. Whether 
the Frenchman prospered in Wallis Orchard; or what event- 
ually became of him and his family — if he had one, and suc- 
ceeded in reuniting them there : none can say. Our town 
records are silent concerning any of his name. No trace 
remains to prove the very fact of his existence, excepting 
only the vague tradition, still cherished by curious villagers, 
and one other memorial even more seldom brought to mind. 
In a southerly thicket of the Orchard, hidden and wellnigh 
lost among scrub-oaks and thorny underbrush, is an ancient 
well. A wild apple overhangs it, strewing witli fruitage of 
pale yellow hightop sweetings tlie little hollow wherei the 
water flows. Eound its margin, the once carefully fitted 
stones of the curbing lie disjointed and scattered; but thq 
pool itself remains clear and refreshing as when, that mild 
December morning a hundred and fifty years agone, the 
Exile paused beside it, and drank of the "waters of captivity." 
Wandering woodchoppers periodically rediscover it; they 
share its boimty, and bless the builder whose name nobody — 
certainly not they themselves — can recall: but the Oldest 
Inhabitant has not forgotten : and when, from time to time, 
report goeis abroad through the village that some one has 
found, in the lonely forest of Wallis Orchard, a wellspring 
which is — nobody can say how old; he listens, smiles to him- 
self the deep, still smile of the initiate, and knows it for 
Peter's Well. 

In 1766 — the year of his marriage — Daniel Bonney bought 
a half interest in the Burton house ; and with his wife Eliza- 
beth, lived there for many years. They had no children. 
Thomas Burton died in 1779, aged eighty-seven; and Allice, 
his widow, died twelve years after, at the still greater age of 
ninety-five. Elizabeth, wife of Daniel, died in 1807: and 



71 



ANCIENT LANDMAEKS OF PEMBEOKE 

he sold the place next year for $680 to Elisha Keen Josselyn 
of Pembroke, an anchorsniith. 

The present house was built by Elisha Josselyn; the 
former became an ell. In some part of the structure he 
kept a general store^ from which were dispensed — not always, 
it would seem, in brimming measure — the two beverages 
which our great-grandparents could not do without. At 
least one veteran tippler found cause to lament half jestingly, 
on many occasions, his good coin gone at Josselyn's for old 
Jamaica, and Mistress Josselyn's thumb ! 

Mr. Josselyn died in 1857; and his widow, in 1863: theii 
son James Eiley succeeded to the estate. His wife was 
Maria — daughter of Capt. John Chandler Mann, a native of 
I'embroke: their children were Ella, who married Morton 
Jones, now of Denver in Colorado; Gilman; and Everett. 
All these settled in other towns ; Eiley Josselyn died in 1882, 
and his widow three years later; and the homestead was 
bought by George H. Eyder, Esquire, of Pembroke. Mr. 
Eyder held many town and parish offices : he was town clerk, 
1870-1893; treasurer, 1875-1893; collector, 1883-1893; and 
long a member of the school committee. He died in 
January of 1894. The estate, retained by his widow for 
some years, has since passed into other hands. 

Early in the last century, the ancient Burton house was 
detached from that of Mr. Josselyn's construction, and 
moved to the opposite side of the street. There it became 
the home of Ambrose Parris — the bard of Highgary — and 
Mahala Howland, his wife; and later, of Mr. and Mrs. 
Edgar C. Bailey. It was recently purchased by Mrs. Henry 
Baker of Pembroke, who removed thither from Little's 
Avenue upon Mr. Baker's death : its oldtime hospitality is 
by her richly sustained. 

The last and fairest of the Burtons sleeps beside the un- 
marked grave of Daniel Bonney in Pembroke burying 
ground, close to the Governoi-'s daughter and the gentle 
dominie. Their direct male line ended with Thomas Burton, 
and memorials of the Burton name are few. Still, sitting in 



72 



THE BURTON HOMESTEAD 

the old wainscoted room where Mistress Betty pleaded so 
well the cause of her carpenter lover, methinks — in some 
depth behind the worn panels — they two look brightly toward 
us; and highly, confidently as of yore, from that deatliless 
springtime of their betrothal, 

"Smile on our claims of long descent." 
Dust are the silks and laces, dust too — shade, if you will 
— the bowl of diamond rings; all that was mortal of 
the Burtons themselves, is dust: but their souls abide 
— bright spirits powerful for loving faith and brave en- 
deavour, and they are not forgotten. Their ancient dwell- 
ing is instinct with memories of them. Does a board creak 
in one of the upper rooms some eerie March evening? — it is 
the step of Madam Burton, pacing restlessly her chamber 
floor: does a sudden gust sigh through crevice and keyhole, 
and stir the window curtains? — it is the swish of Mistress 
Betty's stiff brocade, descending the staircase, or sweeping 
along the corridor: does the fire start up with a snap and 
sputter and crackle? — it is the soimd of her father's quill 
mstling and scratching while he enters the beautiful mar- 
riage record, tracing laborious characters across the page of 
his Bible, and murmuring, as he writes, his tender solicitude 
for the welfare of "Son Daniel," and Daniel's bride. 



73 



VII. Herring Brook and the 
Herring. 



Cato much marvelled how that city should prosper 
wherein a fish sold for as much as an ox. 




OULD you arouse the enthusiasm of a shop- 

W weary Brocktonian, whisper in his ear some 

bright April morning that in Pembroke the 
Herring are up. It is believed that natives 
inherit a taste for the fishery equally keen, 
though less open in its workings: certainly at 
most Pembroke tables a fresh herring two days 
corned, and served piping hot with salt, pep- 
per, vinegar, and leisure to eat it, is esteemed 
the only right supper for a damp, chilly 
spring evening. As for the small boy — friends, have ye not 
seen and heard him glorying in this his element? Unhappy 
the youngstei", bom and bred in Pembroke, who knows not the 
joys of a herring season! From the sounding of the first 
false alarm "Herrin' up!" in February, until grass grows 
high on the well-trodden banks, it is the Children's Hour, 
and they improve it. To be up and about in the morning 
before the brookwatcher — peace to him! — arrives on the 
scene; to help and hinder in loading the herring-carts till 
school time; to ride off with one of those travelling shower- 
baths, then rush back at the earliest possible moment, and 
stay until driven home by fear of parental displeasure at late 
hours and dripping garments — all this, and more, goes to 
make their day among the Herring. Their seniors — for the 
Brook has pleasure for all ages — content themselves witli a 
tour of the bank, and a half-day's visit at the Herring House. 
Many an April afternoon may be whiled away in holding 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

down one of the antique benches, amid an atmosphere of 
blue pipesmoke and neighborhood tradition; while the rain 
patters steadily on the roof, and the wind shrills through the 
chimney, just as they did in the days when herring sold for 
a shilling the hundred, and Isaac Barker opened his dam. 

The alewife is Pembroke's true proprietor by right of 
discovery : all others have been no more than squatters, in- 
terlopers, and tenants on sufferance. The memory — and it 
may be the existence — of man, goeth not back to that first 
spring when the pioneer school threaded its way up North 
River's shallow channel, and found harbour among the new 
bays and sandy reaches of Herring Pond ; where a gentle surf 
broke upon jagged boulders not yet made smooth by its un- 
resting flow. The explorers departed, only to return each 
succeeding season with reinforcements gathered from dis- 
tant shores of the mighty Ocean. Centuries passed: then 
came to the Ponds a vanguard of savages, crowded out of the 
teeming North. These lingered a brief time — to be meas- 
ured by centuries — and were forced southward, retreating 
before another and more valiant race; who in turn moved 
on, after due time, toward their destined home upon the 
slopes of the Cordilleras, perchance even of the mighty 
Andes. So tribe succeeded tribe. 

Last of all came the Massachusetts nation. They pitched 
their lodges close by the ponds, entrenched by a wide circle 
of marsh and forest ; and like their predecessors, derived from 
the waters their chief livelihood. Fresh hen-ing, baked in 
the ashes, were a luxury brought to them by spring: with 
herring they made productive their cornfields, eixhausted by 
tlie unremitting tillage of peoples too indolent to employ — 
although intelligent enough to recognize — thei principle of 
alternation in crops : cured herring gave a relish, when fresh 
meat could not be had, to the vegetable diet of summer ; and 
constituted, together with maize variously treated, their staple 
winter fare. The fish were taken, doubtless, at various 
points on the course of the Herring Brook; but chiefly — it 
is believed — at the place where it issues, by the channel now 



76 



o 






3 

Q 

3 






^ 



3' 




HERRING BROOK AND THE HERRING 

called Furnace Ditch, from Herring Pond. Here stood in 
1698 an ancient Indian weir, sufficiently well known to be 
thought a landmark. This weir probably continued in use 
throughout the first third of the eighteenth century; until 
the Town, grown greedy of revenue, assumed a monopoly of 
the herring industry, pensioning off — in 1772 with an allow- 
ance of five barrels — the remnant of the Massachusetts, and 
thenceforth prohibiting them from fishing in the stream. 

The Brook and its product have never failed of public 
recognition. The Indians' name for this region was Namas- 
sakeesett, or Place of Much Fish. That the acknowledge^ 
ment implied in Namassakeesett was less obvious in the later 
Pembroke, came about through no fault of their successors in 
its happy hunting ground. Shortly before Thanksgi\ang in 
1710, the inhabitants of Mattakeesett, or upper Duxbury, 
began to urge incorporation. Their motion was strenuously 
opposed by the citizens of Duxbury proper. In February 
of 1711, Marshfield consented to relinquish her Upper 
Lands; the proprietors of that district and of The Major's 
Purchase had already, through a memorial addressed to the 
General Court, signified their desire to be included in the 
new township. Duxbury alone was stubborn ; and the men 
of Mattakeesett, failing to obtain any concession at the town 
meeting of 19 March 1711, decided to proceed without her 
sanction. Their petition for incorporation, draftod in May 
following, and presented to the General Court in June, was 
granted a formal hearing before that body late in October. 
Duxbury had received a copy in June, and in October chose 
Capt. Seth Arnold an agent to enter protest: Josiah Barker 
and Joseph Stockbridge represented Mattakeesett. After 
some negotiation, their demands were granted by the Coun- 
cil in an order bearing date 3 November 1711. The House, 
however, dissented, and referred adjustment of the rival 
claims to a board of five commissioners, who reported their 
decision in a document dated at Duxbury 11 March 1712. 
Accepted by the Council one week later, and next day by the 
House likewise, this report led immediately to the drafting 



77 



ANCIENT LANDMAEKS OF PEMBKOKE 

of an act of incorporation, and to its final passage by both 
houses on the twenty-first. 

The part of Duxbury thns alienated is in the record of the 
foregoing procedure styled Mattakeesett. The first motion 
for a change of name appears in the May petition, whose au- 
tliors desired that their new town be called Brookfield. As 
there had been since 1673 a struggling community of that 
name in Worcester County, it is improbable that either 
chamber of the General Court ever entertained seriously the 
request. The attitude of the Council was plainly signified 
in its ordeir of 3 November 1711, which directed "that the 
Prayer of its Petitioners be granted, and that the Town be 
named ." Nothing more is heard of Brook- 

field; nor of any nam«, until 21 March 1712. It would seem 
that, from 3 November to 19 March, the minor question had 
lain in abeyance, while interest centred on the division of 
territory. In the Council record for that day appears with- 
out comment the name Pembroke, which occurs in the act 
under the form Pembrooke. 

Its choice and adoption were doubtless due 
to Joseph Dudley, royal governor of Massachusetts from 
1702 to 1715. Always an autocrat, upon the nam- 
ing of toAvns he seems to have exercised an influence 
almost paramount, especially during the later years of his 
administration. Of the towns incorporated within that 
period, three — Dight-on, 1712; Leicester, 1713; and Sutton, 
1714 — bear names connected with the Governor's family: 
four — Pembroke and Abington, 1712; Rutland and Lexing- 
ton, 1713 — bear names of English noblemen, presumably his 
patrons. Throughout his chequered career, Dudley had been 
much in England. Heir to a position of independence among 
the Puritans of Massachusetts Bay, he had early chosen the 
part of an English placeman; which he was eminently fitted 
to perform. On visits home in 1682 and 1689, he had made 
powerful friends : and his circle of acquaintance became still 
wider during the years 1693-1702; when, as viceroy of the 
Isle of Wight, he became a social favourite, and spent his 



78 



HERRING BROOK AND THE HERRING 

energies in gaining that interest which eventually secured for 
him the post of governor. That to men like the earls of 
Pembroke, Abington, Rutland, and I^exington he should 
address himself, was natural and politic. All had early cast 
in their lot with William of Orange, and we?re now in high 
favour at his court. All had been foremost in asserting 
lately menaced rights equally dear to Englishmen in England 
and in Massachusetts. All had suffered for their defiance of 
Stuart tyranny in the later years of James. To few British 
peers could a political adventurer from the Puritan colony 
turn with better hope of obtaining assistance, or of its efficacy 
when obtained. Concerning the first and most distin- 
guished, especially was this true. The earls of Pembroke 
had been identified with Puritanism at home and abroad from 
its earliest beginnings. The third earl had been a principal 
member of tha Plymouth Company. The fourth, siding 
with the Parliament, abandoned the favor of King Charles 
for a command among the Roundheads. The fifth earl be- 
came a lord lieutenant under Cromwell. And although he 
and his successors acquiesced in the changes of the Restora- 
tion, they seem to have cherished faithfully the Puritan tra- 
dition. The eighth earl was somewhat of a Puritan in dress 
and manners. He had won fame by his patronage of 
scholars ; and Dudley was a scholar. Viceroys as theiy were 
of neighbouring counties, it may be well believed that their 
acquaintance gradually ripened into friendship something 
closer than obtained between lords Justices of the 
Realm and gentlemen from over-seas. Such a friendship 
Dudley might properly recognize by conferring upon his 
benefactor one of the few political honours at a provincial 
governor's disposal. Whether the General Court accepted 
his suggestion without a struggle, we are not told: perhaps 
we are to imagine a scene like that which took place in the 
Council when Rutland was named. "This Court," says 
Judge Sewall, under the date of its incorporation, "a large 
Township is granted near Wachuset. The Governor will 
have it called Rutland: I objected, because that was the 



79 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

name of a shire. The chief Justice said 'twas not con- 
venient except the Land was Red. But the Governor would 
not be diverted." 

The eighth earl of Pembroke was one of England's great- 
est noblemen. His title dated from the beginning of her 
rise to power as a nation, and his estates included some of 
her most historic sites. His hereditary position he honored 
and enhanced by the added reputation of a statesman and a 
scholar. It would be long to relate the offices — somei of the 
highest in the realm — which he held under James, William, 
Anne, George I. and George II : suffice it to mention those of 
keeper of the Privy Seal, regent, lord high admiral, lord 
president of the Council, and viceroy of Ireland. His own 
scholarship and his generous patronage of scholars made the 
name of l^homas Herbert no less esteemed among the cloisters 
of Oxford than was that of the Earl of Pembroke at St. 
James.' In his fiftieth year he was described as "a good 
judge of the Sciences; an encourager of learning: a lover of 
the constitution of his countrv'; of no party, but esteemed by 
all parties: his life and manner after that of the primitive 
Christians; meek, plain in dress, speaks little: of good coun- 
tenance, but ill shaped — tall, thin, and stooping." Would 
you find him pictured with romance befitting the namesake 
of the village, turn to Hon. Harvey N. Shepard's address de- 
livered at the dedication of its Soldiers' Monument. In- 
spired by Dr. Francis Collamore's reference in his History 
1o Earl Herbert and contemporary worthies, the orator is 
calling up to light in long succession personages notable 
among the annals of Pembroke. After mention of Barker 
and Davis its earliest settlers, he continues: "A shade of 
noble form, and with a coronet upon his brow, presses in 
amid the throng: it is the Earl of Pembroke, once keeper of 
the Privy Seal and member of tlie royal household, in whose 
honour the town was named." Remembering that the Gov- 
ernor's choice enriched our local history with these associa- 
tions, we may well forget that it cast a slight on Herring 
Brook and the herring. 



80 



HERRING BROOK AND THE HERRING 

At one of the earliest Pembroke town meetings, it was 
"voated yt iff any person shall from the 10th day of Apeirll 
to ye 20th day of may either build or sett up or continnew 
any dam or stopage in ye heren brook att pembrook so yt ye 
fish may not conveneintly pas to there pond yt. It shall be 
alowable for any person whome the town shall appoint to 
pull down or Remove ye same." In 1717 Isaac Barker and 
Ephraim Nichols were empowered "to higher a man or men 
to go with our Neighboring Indians and clear the Hering 
brook," and to prosecute the author of any obstruction. 
For some years, the fish were caught by individuals at their 
pleasure, without interference from the Town. 

Our first notice of another fishery occurs in 1724, when the 
Town voted to petition the General Court "that Care may 
be taken that the Herrings or Alewives may have free passage 
up Indian head river to Indian head river pond their usual 
place of spawning." This stream seems to have maintained 
a flourishing business for many years. In 1743 the fish 
were caught "at the Sawmill called Stetson's Sawmill" — 
probably that which stood anciently on the south bank of the 
Indian Head near Ludden's Ford; and long after the Revol- 
ution, the Town continued to vote ineffectual restrictions of 
the mill privileges along that river. 

On the Herring Brook, the chief manufactories were 
the Furnace, established in 1702 at the point where it flows 
out from the Furnace pond, and the Barker sawmill, erected 
about 1680, wliere that of Mr. Lemuel LeFurgey now stands. 
In 1714 the Town had granted to Josiah Barker "the priv- 
ilege of setting a com mill upon ye heren brook," debarring 
all others provided he build within one year. In 1741 it 
granted to Nathaniel How the right to build a fulling mill 
on the northwest side of the brook, just above High Street 
bridge; reserving a way for the herring to pass by. These 
privileges continued to be improved, for one purpose or an- 
other, long after fulling and grinding com became lost arts 
in Pembroke. 

In 1741 the Town started out in earnest on its long and 



81 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

elaborate policy of herring regulation. From this time, 
whole pages of its record are devoted to minute prescriptions 
with regard to their price, preservation, and the methods of 
taking them. That year the alewives were farmed out for 
£70 to James Randall : who must sell for no more than a 
shilling the hundred, or five sliillings the barrel, or more 
than two barrels to a family; was forbidden to catch from 
sunset to sunrise, or on Saturdays ; must keep all others from 
catching; must "leave no wares in;" and must give full 
credit to all persons belonging to the Town, th^ amount of 
such credit to be deducted from the stipulated £70. Evi- 
dently James, who was a worthy blacksmith of North Pem- 
broke, did not find the Brook, under these conditions, a gold- 
mine; for it appears that his bond was soon after put in 
suit, an,d even six days of grace refused him. Of the £70, 
but £25 were recovered; and it was long before the Town 
repeated this farming experiment. 

In 1742 the mills were ordered to keep their gates up 
from April first until May fourteenth, and a committee au- 
thorized to make either limit ten days later. Nights, 
Mondays, and Saturdays, were close season ; and the fish were 
to be caught at or near the "old Wast way by the Grist mill." 
Isaac Jennings and Thomas Burton, the Committee, proved 
remiss in performance of their duty ; and on April fifth, were 
sternly admonished "to see that the gates on the Herring 
Brook be hoisted with all convenient speed in order for the 
Fish to have a free passage to the Ponds." Three years 
later, the citizens were allowed to catch "in the Waste way 
from the Widow Nicols Bridge and so up the Brook to the 
Pond's mouth," with scoop nets only: but were forbiddeji to 
"take ym to fisK Cora as they come down :" the penalty for 
each infraction of these rules was a fine of ten shillings. 

"The Widow Nicols Bridge" was probably close by the site 
of the present weir. The Widow herself lived beyond the 
brook, on the narrow island formed by the main stream and 
tlie waste way. The history of her cottage is little known. 
She was the widow of Nathaniel Nichols, and after his death 



82 



s 



1* CD 



^ 




HEEEING BEOOK AND THE HEEEING 

had removed thither from the Deacon WTiitman place. Her 
homestead descended to her daughter Eebecca, widow of Na- 
thaniel Davis — for in 1749 we read of the Widow Davis' 
Bridge; and later, to her grandson Frederic Davis, born in 
1733. In 1780 the bridge is called "the first bridge against 
Frederic Davis." Old residents had formerly much to say of 
Aunt Becky Davis, and the little shop beyond the Herring 
Brook where she dispensed thread, needles, and snuff to the 
neighborhood. 

In 1754 the Town changed the season of hoisted gates, 
making its limits April twelfth and May thirtieth; and voted 
"that no man who has taken one Barrel or more of fish shall 
assume to take to himself any place or stand for taking them 
at any time and place appointed by the Town, but must yield 
the same on demand to any person who has not taken a 
Barrel." The open season was gradually reduced; until, by 
1770, it included for each week only the time between Wed- 
nesday morning and Friday morning. We can readily be- 
lieve that the Widow got little sleep on the nights of 
Wednesday and Thursday; and that, at other times, a small 
army of brookwatohers was necessary to guard the long 
stretch oi easy fishing that led from the Barker fulling mill 
through the woods and swamps into Furnace Pond. 

Pembroke was slowly but surely awakening from its 
quiet colonial repose, and responding to the stirring in- 
fluences of foreign oppression. In 1773 it sought a diver- 
sion in farming out, for a second time, the alewife industry ; 
and voted "that the Poor have one tenth of what the Fish 
fetch payable in fish at one shilling per hundred, that 
whosoever shall purchase sd fish shall deliver to all persons 
six score for one Hundred, and that John Turner may re- 
quire of the Parcher 5 Barrells to distribute among the 
Indians." Captain Edward Thomas was chosen a "Vendue 
Master" to sell the fish; which went, at "Publick Vendue," 
for 42-16-00 to John Chamberlain. This venture was 
successful, but was not renewed, apparently because certain 
citizens were too fond of supervising the herring business to 



83 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

leave another in power. In 1774 a committee of fifteen 
overseers, no less, was chosen to regulate the fishery; the 
Town wisely provided that the Fifteen should be paid with 
the fines by them collected, "and those only." 

During the Revolution, the inhabitants of P^broke were 
occupied with affairs which they considered of greater 
moment than even the alewife industry; accordingly, the 
record for those years shows a summariness of dealing as 
praiseworthy as it is unexpected. The fish question re- 
niained in abeyance till the new state and national constitu- 
tions were settled : we find the first symptom of reviving in- 
terest in a weird resolution, passed 1786, "that the Fish 
called Alewives Take their Course Through the Course of 
the week Excepting from Saturday Sun Set untill Monday 
Morning at Sun Rise no Body is to Take them." By 1787, 
most of the Town^s notables had returned from camp and 
council-board ; and as talent was now abundant, the modest 
committee of war times gave place to a body of ten super- 
visors. ] ^' 

The Ten reported in 1788: on their recommendation, it 
was voted "that catching the Fish be let to the lowest bid- 
der; . . . that Amos Standish catch at one seventh 
tithe; that a Committee of Three be chosen to apportion the 
fish among the Inhabitants according to the numbers in each 
family; that a Committee of Ten be chosen to Oversee the 
Brook; that the Three allow the Ten for their trouble; that 
the Fish be taken between Davis' Bridge and the Bridge next 
below the fulling mill; and that the time for Catching anid 
the time to Let the fish Run Unmolested be the Same as 
last year, Viz. After the Sun Sets on vSaturday until She 
Shall Rise Monday Morning, they may not be Catcht." The 
work of the Ten seems not to have been quite conclusive ; for, 
through 1788 and 1781), men like Col. Jeremiah Hall, Capt. 
Seth Hatch, Esquira Joseph Smith, and Judge John Turner, 
constituted a board of commissioners "to revise the Bylaw 
made in 1787 raspecting the Alewives." Their solution of 
the problem involved the choice of a committee of two to 



84 



hereinCt brook and tpte herring 

regulate the dams, and a committee of six to oversee the 
brook. Every member of both committees was placed under 
oath. 

The veterans of '76 plainly found administration of the 
Herring Brook a pastime congenial to their declining years. 
Five of them chosen in 1790 to report on the alewives, failed 
to realize the gravity of their mission ; and accordingly, "the 
Verble Report of the Alewife Committee was Not accepted, 
after which a Written Report was accepted and ordered to 
lay on File with the Town papers." This year a nine was 
chosen to oversee the brook. In 1792 Deacon Smith, Judge 
Turner, and Rev. Kilborn Whitman were instructed to farm 
out the alewives: they were sold to Bailey Hall; who was 
to have seventeen fish from each hundred, and govern him- 
self in accordance with a code of fifteen regulations, and 
such others as an inspecting committee of five should appoint. 
The tenth regulation bound him, upon request, to "make out 
and sing" a certificate of the number of fish sold to any par- 
ticular person. 

Nathaniel Gushing was that year granted leave "to take 
out of the Great Ponds 250 Herrings, to be put into Indian 
River head Pond." If the Town had devoted more thought 
to such measures, and less to developing bureaucracies and 
Councils of Ten, we should reap a rich harvest of their plant- 
ing today. Instead, they proceeded next year to elaborate 
the system by voting "that a Committee have power to deal 
out the alewives, giving not more than 500 to any family, or 
six score to the hundred: and whereas in 1792 a hundred of 
fiVQ score brought one shilling; now the prise shall be nine- 
pence a hundred of six score, except that Green Alewives sold 
to other towns shall be at one shilling per hundred of six 
score: and Thomas Fish shall catch the same at fifteen per 
cent six score per hundred." The object of such playing 
fast and loose with the multiplication table, is as inconceiv- 
able as a green alewife. In 1797 the; Town came to the 
conclusion that five score was the equivalent of a hundred: 
Micah Foster was chosen to "catch under oath, and render 



85 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

clue accompt of the number Cetched ;" while on one John 
Baker was conferred the high distinction of "Commissioner 
for Regulating the alewive fishrey Extreordrany." 

A sane policy was first adopted in the year 1799 ; when 
the Selectmen were made a fish committee with full au- 
tliority, and instructed to appoint an agent for superintend- 
ing the business. In 1807 the price of alewives was set at 
twenty-five cents the hundred. That singular institution 
ihe Hetrring List was first employed in 1812, about which 
tiine the supply seems to have been considerably below the 
demand. On the incorporation of Hanson, 22 February 
1820, the herring fishery was expressly resigned to the old 
town ; on the condition that residents of Hanson should have 
all the rights of purchase possessed by residents of Pembroke. 

Some enterprising citizen must have manipulated a corner 
in alewives during 1821, for the price rose that year front 
thirty-three to fifty cents the hundred. Elated by such 
prospects, the Town in 1822 "regected by a vote of 89-13 
the offer of Robert G. Mcfarling and others for the right to 
keep down his gates on the Brook or all right to the alewife 
fishery forever." Meantime, the schools were steadily 
becoming fewer and smaller; not until the year 1830 did a 
return of prosperity set in. Our town record perpetuates the 
glad tidings that in 1838 shad were taken in the Herring 
Brook. 

An investigating committee chosen that year reported "that 
the destruction of the herring is inadvisable." It is a 
tradition in Pembroke and North Easton that Oliver Ames 
once petitioned this town to grant him a location on the 
Herring Brook with necessary privileges; and that his request 
was refused by a great majority of votes, because it involved 
the loss of their herring. Perhaps 1838 was the year of that 
momentous decision. 

In 1865 the present method of seeding the ponds was 
adopted. It has proved sureo- and more economical than the 
old. Ten thousand herring are deposited annually in 
Furnace Pond; their offspring descend to the sea in August 



HERRING BROOK AND THE HERRING 

and September, and return — Mr. LeFurgey tells me — in the 
third year. In spite of all precautions, the shad was last 
seen in the waste way some fifteen years ago, and even its 
kinsman the herring — which is after all no true herring, and 
answers only to the Indian name alewife — appears to be 
slowly retreating before the poison-tainted waters of Forge 
Brook. Pembroke may waken, some fine spring morning, 
to find herseif left with half a manufactory, and of herrings, 
never a one. 

The Brook has m its day seen a vast deal of practical 
joking. The unhappy Indians, on their way to the weir, 
became targets for many a ripe apple thrown from gable 
windows of the Salmond house by young Peter and his 
brother. Later, the suspicious brookwatcher became a 
general butt. It was in youth a favorite pastime of my 
grandfather Whitman and Captain Otis Little to shoulder a 
bag of shavings toward nightfall; steal along the stream 
until "spotted" by the enemy; and then lead him a merry 
chase off through the dusk, leaping from tussock to hum- 
mock, before the innocent nature of their burden was 
discovered. When such pranks and a hundred others were 
to cope with, well might the Report for 1847 premise: "The 
Fish Committee of the town of Pembroke have attended to 
the arduous and perilous duties of their office." 

Let us remember kindly the Brook and its children, for 
the good times they have given us, and the small but steady 
revenue they still yield the Town. Lament for "lost Oliver" 
is futile now. Somewhere back in dark unrecorded past 
ages, the herring fishery came to stay. We may not like 
herring; and we may disagree with the old rhyme I used to 
hear in herring season: 

"Herrin' up, herrin' down, 
Herrin' all about the town ! 
Herrin' be Pembroke's joy and pride; 
If it hadn't been for herrin', old Pembroke would 
have died." 



87 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

We may even think her vitality suffered from her prefer- 
eiice of herring to shovels. But surely something is due 
the now despised alewife, that preserved for us an autumn 
landscape of purple hills and russet meadow unequalled in 
all the country round. 



88 







3 

610 

c 



c 



Li, 



VIII. The Friends' Meeting 
House. 



In the still waters needs must he 
Some shade of human sympathy: 
The dull hy-sitter guesseth not 
What voices haunt that silent spot; 
No eyes save mine alone can see 
The love wherewith it weloomes me! 
There still, with those alone my kin. 
In doubt and weakness, want and sin, 
I strive {too oft, alas! in vain) 
The peace of simple trust to gain, 
Fold fancy's restless tvings, and lay 
The idols of my heart away. 

N the northernmost part of Pembroke, on a lofty 
hill round which North River circles in a vast 
curve, stands a famous old building known as 
the Friends' or Quaker Meeting House. The 
spot shares with Ward Hill in western Pem- 
broke, Bonney Hill in Hanson, and Telegraph 
and Carolina Hills in Marshfield, some dis- 
tinction as the highest land in our part of 
Plymouth County; and this edifice is visible 
for miles around. "Quaker Meeting House," 
says Dr. Francis Collamore in a recent article, "and Quaker 
Meeting House plain have been noted landmarks for a gi-eat 
many years. When Captain Woodward drove the Plymouth 
and Boston stage about eighty years ago, he said Quaker 




ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

Meeting House plain was the coldest place between Plymouth 
and Boston. 

"The first Friends' meeting house was built at Scituate, 
on the land of Henry Ewell, in 1678. The land was subse- 
quently owned by Judge William Gushing, and his garden 
marked the spot; it is now called the Shaw Place, and owned 
by the heirs of James Sampson. Later, another Friends' 
meeting house was built, in the year 1706, on the Michael 
Wanton estate; and this was the one moved to Pembroke. 
Briggs in his Shipbuilding states that, according to tradition, 
the house was moved up North River to its present location 
on 'gundaloes.' The Cudworth place takes in the Wanton 
estate, I believe. Deane, in his history of Scituate, has 
much to say about Edward Wanton, the father of Michael. 
His sons William and Joseph — the latter a graduate of 
Harvard — were both governors of Rhode Island. Michael, 
like his father, lived in ScitiiatCj and was a leader of the 
Friends. . . . He was contemporary with Rev. 
Nathaniel Eells of the South Parish, now Norwell, and lived 
in more harmony with him than could have been expected of 
one fired with the zeal of a new sect. He was contemporary 
also with Thomas Turner, a lawyer of facetious memory; 
whose sarcasms were often aimed at Wanton, and always 
received with such undisturbed good humor that at length 
they became sincerely attached to each other, though of dif- 
ferent temper and different sects. On one occasion. Wanton 
had been successful in a fishing expedition, and had loaded his 
l>oat with fine halibut; calling on his return at the tavern of 
Wliite's ferry, he found an assemblage of gentlemen attending 
a trial by reference. He caused an entertainment to be 
prepared of his fish, and invited the whole company to dine. 
This was done in consequence of a sarcasm of Lawyer 
Turner, who had thus addressed him : 'Friend Wanton, you 
are like the apostle Peter. In the first place, he was a 
fisherman, and so are you; he was a preacher, and so are 
you ; he denied his Lord, and so do you.' It was agreed that 
Wanton had tlie advantage on this occasion. 



90 




3 






THE FRIENDS' MEETING HOUSE 

"According to one tradition, the meeting house was 
brought up the river from Scituate on the ice. Nathan T. 
Shepherd, who was clerk of the society a good many years 
ago, told me the present building was one built in 1706; 
and that large headed tacks forming the figures 1706, were 
in one of the doors pre\'ious to an alteration made in 1832. 
The original house had a peaked roof. The story has always 
been current that, when young Edward Little went courting 
Edith Rogers, her father Joseph Rogers told him, 'If thee 
wants to marry Edie, thee must go to the peaked meeting 
house.' Mr. Little had served in his father's privateer dur- 
ing the war of 1812, and had always taken a good deal of 
pride in his midshipman's uniform; but like many another 
young man, he was conquered by the God of love. When 
an old man, he was chosen representative to Congress; and 
sat out his term with head covered, as he sat in Quaker meet- 
ing. The dress of Friends in the olden time was peculiar. 
In meeting, the men sat on one side of the house, and the 
women on the other. Often not a word was spoken during 
the whole long hour's session: signal for closing would be 
given by the older members on the raised back seats, by shak- 
ing hands. 

"Fifty years ago and less, the meeting house was well filled 
on Sundays. From Marshfield came Edward P. Little's 
and Moses F. Rogers' families, the Nyes and Phillipses; 
from Hanover, Otis Ellis, Zaccheus Estes, Simeon Hoxie — 
earlier, the Baileys, Percivals, and Wings; from South 
Ilingham, Reuben Tower and Joshua Wilder; from Scituate, 
Daniel Otis, Adam Brooks, and Consider Howland; from 
Pembroke, the Browns and Shepherds and Keens and Bark- 
ers. They were nearly all people well to do; if any needed 
help, they were taken care of in the society. Meetings were 
held on the forenoons of Sunday and Thursday— which they 
called First and Fifth Days. The business was largely 
transacted on the last Thursday of eax^h month. No votes 
by yes and no, or by raising of hands, were taken; but each 
member expressed his or her opinion, and the chainnan pro- 



91 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

nounced the sense of the meeting. In old times, the 

Friends were epiempt from taxes to pay for preaching, also 
from military duty. 

"Of members attending regularly the Pembrokei meeting, 
James Keen's wife and Calvin Shepherd were more apt to be 
moved by the Spirit. Yearly meetings of all the societies 
of the northern states, were held at Newport; and were 
looked forward to with very pleasant anticipation. The 
pleasant acquaintances made there furnished a very fruitful 
subject of conversation among the yoimg Friends. Quarter- 
ly meetings were held at Sandwich, New Bedford, and other 
places. Sometimes yearly and quarterly meetings would 
send speakers to the society at Pembroke, and a series of 
meetings would be held. 

"Charlotte Wade, who lived on the Bigelow place in 
Hanover, and taught private school there, was a Friend. My 
recollections of her school and of her, are pleasant ; although 
she punished me for being good, the only time I was ever 
punished for it. One of her rules was that pupils who 
carried their dinners should not go out of the school yard at 
intermission. One noon my brother, my cousin, John 
Shepherd, and I, went down the hill into the river. When 
school was called, Mrs. Wade noticed that the apparel of the 
three first named was deranged, and their hair wett. She 
sent them home one after another, with letters to their 
parents, at intervals of about fifteen minutes. About 
fifteen minutes after the last one had gone, I told her I 
went into the water too. 'Thee has been so good as to 
tell,' said she, 'thee need not go home.' About fifteen min- 
utes later, I asked if I might go home. She excused me, 
and I caught up with the others near tlie Quaker Meeting 
House. 

"Mrs. Wade married Mr. Tabor of New Bedford, and the 
whole school went to the wedding. The ceremony is a very 
impressive one. When heart speaks to heart in the solemn 
stillness of tlie Quaker meeting, the rite seeims more earnest, 
more soul felt, than words repeated by priest or magistrate. 
Divorces are very rare among Quakers. 



92 



THE FRIENDS' MEETING HOUSE 

"The Barkers were many of them Quakers. Benjamin 
Barker used to ride a large white horse to meeting, whoin he 
was an old man. He had a large, white woolly dog; they 
used to shear and spin the fleece^ and knit mittens of the 
yam. Benjamin Barker was a large land holder in Pem- 
broke and Scituate, and was considered wealthy. 

"The Browns were veiry well educated people. Gould 
Brown published a small grammar, which was studied to some 
extent in the common schools ; and later, a larger book, called 
the Grammar of Grammars. He taught school in New 
York; also at Pembroke, in a house now occupiejd by Mr. 
Henry Baker, which then stood nearly opposite the Judge 
Whitman place. William Brown was a doctor in Lynn. 
Samuel Brown lived at the old home in Pembroke, a very 
respectable, genial man, of good judgment that his neigh- 
bors often sought. He had the reputation of being lazy, and 
seemed to enjoy it. At one time, he was coming home from 
quarterly meeting; the road was long and dusty; and he 
became thirsty. He stopped at a house to get some water; 
and before he got to the door, heard a woman scolding at a 
great rate. He knocked ; she came and said, 'I suppose you 
heard me scolding my husband, I have got the laziest man 
for a husband that ever was.' 'Has thee?' says Mr. Brown; 
'I would like to see thy husband, I have been afflicted with 
that disease all my days.' 

"Calvin Shepherd and his wife were very zealous Friends. 
I knew them well, and recall many traits of character worthy 
of respect and admiration. He and Isaac Hatch were 

pioneers in tbo box-making business, which has grown from 
small beginnings to be very large. The work, when they 
began, was all done with handsaw, plane, and hammer; and 
boxes were delivered in a one-horse wagon at East Abington, 
Randolph, Quincy, and Boston." 

A gentleman who in youth attended the Quaker meeting, 
best remembers Elder Shepherd by the event of a certain hot 
First Day morning these sixty summers ago. Tlie Spirit 
moved few that morning. Sitting among other youngsters 



93 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

at the front of the house, he grew restless, and was pro- 
ceeding to find amusement in one or other of the thousand 
ways invented by young America during the time of long 
services; when he met the Elder's calm, reproving look 
turned full on him. The silence wore on, until — in 
Whittier's phrase — 

"The elder folk shook hands at last; 
Down seat by seat the signal passed." 
The boys waited respectfully for their seniors to pass out, 
and beside them the Elder paused. The offender stood 
expecting nothing less than a severe — and as he knew, well 
merited — rebuke. But the good old Quaker looked down on 
him with a smile. "Boy," said Mr. Shepherd, gently, "thee 
will see the day when thee will feel serious." 

The elders' seat whence Mr. Shepherd surveyed the Meet- 
ing, was one of four placed in ascending grade opposite the 
many, and balanced by four others upon the women's side. 
Precedence increased beginning at the back, and the front 
and lowest seat was most honorable. Here sat those whom 
common consent among the Friends held most worthy to be 
ensamples of justice and gentleness before their fellows. 

The last meeting held in the ancient Meeting House took 
place some years ago, and surviving members of the Societty 
are few. Like other churches in this part of the country, 
it has felt severely the religious apathy which nearly every- 
where follows in the wake of Puritan fanaticism ; and having 
oi'iginally but few followers in comparison with those others, 
has sooner shown symptoms of decay. The dress and speech 
of the Friends is rare among us: and with them has passed 
away from the village a strong influence for good character 
and brotherly love. 



94 




to 



s 

3 

o 




P 



IX. The Anthony Collamore 
Estate. 



Howe'er the pencil dipped in dreams 
Shades the hrown woods or tints the sunset streams. 
The country doctor in the foreground seems; 
Whose ancient sulky down the village lanes 
Dragged, like a war-car, captive ills and pains. 
J could not paint the scenery of my song, 
Mindless of one tvho looked thereon so long. 

S you come south from Quaker Meeting House, 
following The King's Highway — the old stage 
road from Boston to Plymouth ; there appears 
on the right, just opposite the homestead of 
the late Nathaniel Smith, Esquire, a solid 
colonial house known as the Dr. Anthony 
Collamore place. It stands on a green knoll 
rising above a small stream tributary to Eobin- 
son's Creek, and commands a fine view of the 
brook valley and surrounding hills. The site 
is very ancient ; it was, probably, part of an early grant from 
the town of Duxbury to Lieutenant Francis Barker — son of 
Robert, the ancestor. 

Of the three sons of Robert Barker, Francis engaged most 
in public affairs. It was he who represented this part of the 
town among the Duxbury magistrates. He was selectman of 
Duxbury many years, and its representative in General Court 
at Plymouth and at Boston. The furnace at the pond owed 
its existence to him and his nephews. He was lieutenant of 




ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBEOKE 

tlie military company of Duxbury; did much towards pro- 
curing the incorporation of Pembroke; and was first clerk 
and first chairman of selectmen of the new town. His house 
was on the east of the Boston road not far from the site of 
the present Briggs Burying Ground. 

In 1713 he seems to have retired from active life; for he 
held thereafter no more public offices, and that year gave his 
estate outright to his surviving children. 

The Anthony Collamore site was conveyed to his son 
Thomas Barker, born in 1686 ; who erected a large house on 
the estate, and lived there with his nuracTous family. His 
wife was Bethia, daughter of Isaac Little of Marshfield, and 
sister of the Honorable Isaac Little of Pembroke. In 1714 
lie is called Captain Barker. He held many public offices: 
was representative five years ; and long a justice of the peace, 
ranking as "Gentleman." Of his daughters, Bethia — the 
eldest — married John, son of Hon. Isaac Winslow of Marsh- 
field: who, as General Winslow, carrying out the orders of 
Gov. Shirley, removed the Acadians from Nova Scotia; and 
together with James Otis, was prominent in the Stamp Act 
agitation. Abigail, a younger daughter, married her cousin 
Joshua Barker, a distinguished military officer and loyalist. 

In 1733 Thomas Barker sold his estate at Pembroke, and 
removeid with his eldest son, Thomas, to North Carolina; 
where he died next year, aged forty-eight. Thomas Barker, 
Junior, became a noted lawyer and a very wealthy man: he 
owned three plantations on the Roanoke, and more than three 
liundred negroes ; he was a teacher and friend of Gov. Samuel 
Johnston. Doubtless the influence of his uncle. Chief Justice 
liittle, was of great help to him. He married Ferabee Pugh, 
a native of Cornwall, and widow of Col. Francis Pugh ; and 
second, in 1754, Mrs. Penelope Craven, daughter of Dr. 
Samuel and Elizabeth Paget. Though Col. Barker was a 
loyalist, his wife was an ardent patriot. She preside at the 
meeting of those Edenton women who drew up their famous 
agreement to drink no more tea till the tax shordd bei. re- 
moved ; when the British soldiers had seized a horse from her 



96 



THE AT^TTHONY COLLAMORE ESTATE 

stables, she cut the halter with a sword and set the animal 
free. Elizabeth Barker, only surviving child of Col. Thomas, 
was born in 1745, and early left an orphan. She was 
educated by her kinsman, Governor Peyton Randolph of 
Williamsburg in Virginia; and refusing offers of marriage 
from Thomas Jefferson and Patrick Henry, married Col. 
William Tunstall of Carolina — where her descendants still 
live. 

"Know all men by these presents that I, Thomas Barker 
of Pembroke in the County of Plymouth and Province of 
Massachusetts Bay, Esquire, for and in consideration of the 
full and just sum of Nine hundred Poimds in good and law- 
full Bills of Publick Credit of the old Tenour to me in hand 
paid before the Ensealing of these Presents by Thomas Tracy 
of said Pembroke. Yeoman; with which siun I do acknow- 
ledge myself to be fully satisfied contented and paid, and 
thereof do acquit exonerate and discharge the said Thomas 
Tracy his heirs and assigns forever: Have given granted 
bargained sold aliened enfeoffed conveyed and confirmed, and 
by these presents for me and my Heirs do freely and abso- 
lutely give grant bargain sell alien enfeoff convey and 
confirm, unto the said Thomas Tracy his heirs and assigns 
forqiver: A Farm of Fifty-three acres by estimation, be the 
same more or less, situate lying and being in Pembroke 
aforesaid, bounded as follows — beginning at a great Rock 
on the south side of the road near where Joshua Turner now 
dwells thence by said road to a way leading to the land of 
Abraham Booth thence by said way west and by said land 
south to the northerly corner of a lot givesn me by my hon- 
oured Father, Francis Barker, late of said Pembroke, 
Gentleman, the same being a stake and stones thence by said 
land east to the road aforementioned thence by said road 
north to said rock the bound first named; togeither with all 
the buildings and Fencings thereon situate and belonging to 
the same: To have and to liold all the above granted and 
bargained Premises, with all and singular the Privileges and 
Appurtenances thereunto belonging or any Ways appertain- 



97 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBEOKE 

ing, unto him the said Thomas Tracy his heirs and assigns 
forever, to his and their own proper Use, Benefit and 
Behoof; forever free and clear and clearly acquitted and 
discharged of and from all manner of other and former Gifts 
Grants Bargains Sales Mortgages Leases Joyntures Dowers 
or Incumbrances whatsoever. And furtherinore I the said 
Thomas Barker my Heirs Executors and Administrators, to 
him the said Thomas Tracy his heirs and assigns forever, 
shall and will Warrant and forever Confirm the Premises 
before mentioned as before expressed against the Lawfull 
claims and demands of all Parties whatsoever : And I, 
Bethiali Barker, wife of the said Thomas Barker, do by these 
presents freely Grant and Eesign up to the said Thomas 
Tracy his heirs and assigns forever my Eight of Dower and 
Power of Thirds in the Premises before mentioned: And in 
testimony to these Presents we the said Thomas Barker and 
Bethiah Barker have hereunto set our Hands and Seals this 
four and twentieth day of May in the year of our Lord one 
thousand seven hundred and thirty-three 1733. 

Thomas Barker — Seal 
Bethiah Barker — Seal 
Signed Sealed and Delivered in Presence of us: 

Abraham Booth 
Eras. Barker 
Plymouth: on the 21st day of June 1733 then did the 
abovenamed Thomas Barker and Bethiah Ba.rker acknow- 
ledge the above written to be their Act and Deed before me 

Isaac Little Esquire 
Justice of the Peace." 

Thomas Tracy, having owned this place but four years, 
removed to Pembroke Centre. In 1737 it came into the 
hands of James Eandall, a blacksmith by trade, and by avo- 
cation the luckless farmer of the herring fishery; who 
occupied it until 1761, and then for £108 sold it to Ichabod 
Thomas, Shipwright, a native of Marshfield. 

Captain Thomas had sought employment on the North 
River when shipbuilding was in its prime. He married 



98 



THE ANTHONY COLLAMORE ESTATE 

Ruth, daughter of Capt. Benjamin Turner — a pioneer in 
that business; and himself became one of the most noted 
builders on the stream. Account of him is to be found in 
Dr. Briggs' Shipbuilding, and a record of his family as well, 
His daughter Ruth married Dr. Charles Turner of North 
Pembroke, who succeeded Jeremiah Hall as physician of the 
village; and it was to his successor — Anthony Collamore, a 
native of Scituate — that in 1809 the Thomas estate was sold. 

Dr. Anthony Collamore practised in Pembroke and sur- 
rounding towns for nearly half a century. He was many 
years a justice of the peace, and long a member of the school 
committee, besides serving as representative to General Court 
in 1827. His first wife, Lydia Winslow of Scituate, died in 
1828: and he married Caroline, daughter of Isaac and Sarah 
Hatch; who survived him. Dr. Collamore's practice was 
continued by his nephew. Dr. Francis Collamore; and he died 
in 1847, aged sixty-one years. 

His son Henry H. Collamore, Esquire, succeeded to the 
estate, and lived there until about ten years ago; when he 
removed to Fall River. Mr. Collamore was much in public 
office, and served as selectman from 1883 to 1894-. After his 
removal, the house was for some time untenanted. It is now 
the summer residence of Hon. James M. W. Hall of Newton. 



09 




David Oldham, Esquire 

1776- 1857 



X. Squire Keen Mansion and 
Oldham Farms. 



Her home is brave in Jaffrey Street, 

With stately stairways ivorn 
By feet of old Colonial knights 

And ladies gentle-born. 

Still green ahoiit its ample porch 

The English ivy twines. 
Trained bad- to show in English oak 

The herald's carven signs. 

And on her, from the wainscot old. 

Ancestral faces frown, — 
And this hath worn the soldier's sword, 

And that the judge's gown. 

HE traveller who, coming southward along the 
Plymouth highway, abandons it at a point not 
far beyond West's factory, and takes thei gently 
ascending road to Pembroke Meeting House, 
sees presently before him on the crest of the 
hill, through an orchard of ancient appletrees, 
the narrow gable and high, roomy ell of Squire 
Keen's mansion, for sixty years past known 
more generally as the John Oldham place. As 
he draws nearer, following a path at the base 
of the orchard wall, and notes — for this house, like certain 
others, has a distinction that compels the eye — the narrow- 
ness of its windows, the absence of blinds, and its perfect 




ANCIENT LANDMAEKS OF PEMBEOKE 

preservation withal ; he will find himself in doubt whether its 
singular outlines are due to direct influence of a fashion 
obsolete before the Eevolution, or to the whimsicality of its 
builder. His first guess is the truer. The old houses of 
Pembroke are not few or undistinguished. It would be hard 
to name among them the superior of this in historic interest, 
or its equal in fineness of construction and certain antiquity. 
Before the house a pair of evergreens do sentry duty : they 
are enclosed by a yard with posts of hammered stone import- 
ed by Mr. Josiah Barker; and beneath them, from street to 
front door, leads a path thickly strown with smooth round 
pebbles, fetched hither — it is said — by the Squire in saddle- 
bags from the beaches of his Marshfield farm. Opposite the 
doorway, a wonderful carved staircase winds upward to 
spacious chambers with projecting beams and braces, and the 
shadowy, many-alcoved attic above. Here may be seen, free 
of plaster and sheathing, the excellent materials used in the 
first construction : stout oak beams are thei rafters, hewn and 
treenailed to form a joint; the floor has in it planks of width 
to make a modern sawyer stare and gasp; and the mighty 
chimney, although shrunk to a fraction of its dimensions 
below, still dwarfs the very foundations of most chimneys 
built nowadays. Throughout the house, in every corner of 
wall and ceiling, are found projecting beams, covered with 
ornamental sheathing, and studded at a convenient height 
with smooth-turned pegs of wood. In the south room only 
remains Esquire Josiah's substitute for blinds — a set of 
panelled shutters, three panels at each window, through 
which a single oval opening, high up in the middle panel, 
admits a single shaft of light. Over all the woodwork this 
principle of the panel is constantly reappearing: and every 
groove seems perfect as when it left the joiner's hand. Three 
traces only of Time's tear and wear I noticed — the bowing 
of timbers here and there, imable to withstand the racking 
storms of eight score winters; the smoke-blackened surface 
of a beam in the outer kitchen ; and the polish on a flight of 
stone steps leading to the cellar, worn smooth by many a 



102 



^ 



c 



3 




SQUIRE KEEN MANSION AND OLDHAM FARMS 

busy housewife's passing up and down. A small isolated 
room on the north angle has from time immemorial — why, 
nobody can imagine — been called the Nunnery. Its slide 
and numerous shelves declare it an antique cheese-room: the 
slide is now sealed, and the shelves demolished ; but from the 
door still hangs a time-honored latchstring — succ^sor to that 
which many a day, I mistrust, put the little Keens at Surly 
Elf's mercy, when Squire Josiah went out electioneering, and 
Madam Sarah's back was turned. 

So far the interior: of the autumn view from the attie; of 
the grape-vine which in September hangs its clusters at every 
southerly window: of the great stone walls adjoining, and 
the bam with its dragon vane — of these I must make but 
hurried mention, omitting much else well worth the telling: 
and after this brief and bare description, pass on to things 
historical. 

From the obscurity into which the number and vagueness 
of grants to Barbers have cast the history of land-titles in its 
neighborhood, this homestead first emerges, late in the sev- 
enteenth century, as a part of the estate of Samuel Barker; 
to whose estrangement from his family and ultimate removal 
I have elsewhere referred. Some years before he left Pem- 
broke — the deed bears date 13 April 1699 — he sold to his 
brother-in-law John Keen of Duxbur\^, for fourscore pounds 
in current money, 160 acres of upland and meadow, extend- 
ing from the confluence of Herring and Pudding Brooks 
considetrably to the east of the "way leading to Mattakeesett 
mill," now Barker Street. 

The new owner was son of Josiah Keen, a pioneer of 
Duxbury. He married Rebecca, sister of Samuel, and daugh- 
ter of Isaac and I.ydia Barker. His name appears among 
the freeholders of Pembroke at the time of its incorporation ; 
but I have not learned where within the town he lived. 
Apparently he had not made extensive improvements upon 
his 160 acres, when in March of 1744 he transferred them, 
for £1200 lawful money, to his son Josiah, also of 
Pembroke. John Keen died that year, at the age of eighty- 



103 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

three; his son John became administrator. Under John 
Junior's management, the personal property soon evaporated: 
at tlie time of his death, in 1777, the estate still remained 
unsettled: administrator succeeded administrator; and the 
njiserable business eventually lingered on into the next cen- 
tury, until in 1801 an uncommonly searching appraisal re- 
vealed four acres of meadow, and the proceeds thereof were 
divided, after fifty-seven years of litigation, among old 
John's grandcliildren. 

Josiah Keen, Esquire, has loug been a figure shrouded in 
the mists of the eighteenth century. Unlike his contem- 
poraries of tlie Revolution — Hatcli, Chamberlain, Hitchcock, 
Hall, and the Turners — he left no descendants in Pembroke: 
and a reputation great, if not altogether savoury, soon 
ceased to receive much notice from men wlio had new scan- 
dals of their own to disseminate, and new achievemetnts to 
praise. Josiah Keen was born at Pembroke on the 19th of 
October, 1713, 0. S. He came late among many childrem; 
it must have been very largely due to his own industry and 
business ability, that at the age of thirty he was owner of a 
considerable amount of i-eal estate., and a '"Yoeman" highly 
lespected by his neighbors. In 1744 he bought his home- 
stead, and probably proceeded at once to build the house he 
\^^as occupying — a deed tells us — 4 September 1749. His 
income was derived from farming; the manufacture of 
potash; dealings in real estate; and a business which in 1757 
caused him to be styled ''Merchant of Boston," although he 
seems always to have made his home at this place. He 
nuirried in 1756 Sarah, daughter of Brvant and Abigail Par- 
rott, and widow of Christopher Tilden, Mariner, all of 
Boston; their children were Sarah, born 7 October 1758, and 
Rebecca. 

Five months after his marriage, Josiah — like Macbeth, it 
may be, spurred on by his lady — entered the political field, 
and won election as representative in General Court for 1757; 
ousting Israel Turner, Esquire, who had enjoyed a seven 
years' tenure of the office. He was annually re-elected — 



104 



SQUIRE KEEN MANSION AND OLDHAM FAEMS 

Israel Turner's victory of 1759 excepted — until 1763; when 
a new aspirant, John Turner, defeated him. Neverthelees 
the Squire — commissioned a justice ahout 17G0 — secured 
reinstatement in 1765, the year of the Stamp Act; and re- 
ceived tlie following instructions, adopted — at a town 
meeting adjourned to seven of the clock afternoon, Monday, 
21 October, 1765— *'by a grate majority of vots:"— 

"To Josiah Keen Esqur at Pembroke 

The freeholders and other Inhabitants, in town meeting 
assembled. Considering the Distress that will be brought upon 
us by the stamp act if it should take place: We think said 
Act intolerable in its consequences and imposable to be 
Carrieid into Execution without ye utter Ruin of ye Province 
— and yet their is grate danger that it may in time dissolve 
the commerce connections and friendship now subsisting be- 
tween Grate Brittain and her colonies. We also Judge it 
best to withstand the evil in its Begining, lest after ye chains 
are once riveted upon us, we should find no remedy till we be 
worn out and intirely and utterly consumed. We have 
therefore thought proper and do by our unanimous vote give 
you the following instructions (viz) that You Givel Your 
Cearfull and Constant attendance at the Nest assembly 
throughout their approaching Session, and as accation may 
offer, firmly oppose said Act — not to concur to any Measures 
that may have the Leass appearance of Giving it any Coun- 
tanance Directly or indirectly: that you use your uttermost 
skill and wisdom, in conceart with the other worthy members 
of the assembly, to Pospone the introduction of said Act, 
until the unitted Cries of the Wliole Continant may have 
Reachd the ears of our most gracious King and the Parliment 
of Grate Brittain, and shall obtain from them, who wish 
neither the death nor loss of their colonies, an answer of 
Peace/' 

After 1762 John Turner, who was Town Clerk 1769-1787, 
eeems to have conveniently forgotten to record the elections 
of Capt. Keen — as the House Journal usually styles him; 
who was, nevertheless, returned in the years 1770-1772, as 



106 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

well as in 1765. One document relating to his last campaign 
kind Fortune has preserved for us : — 

"To the Honorable House of Representatives, assembled 
at Cambridge ye 37th Day of xMay A. D. 1772, the Petition 
and Remonstrance of the Subscribers the inhabitants of the 
Towne of Pembroke in the county of Plimouth, in New Eng- 
land. Humbly Sheweth that whereas at a Towne meeting 
held at Said Pembroke on ye 25th Day of May 1772 for the 
clioice of Representative in which meeting Josiah Keen Esq. 
was declared by one of the Selectmen of Said Town to be 
chosen to Represent them at ye Create and General Court 
the insuing year &e. Which Choice we the said inhabitants 
Protest against by Reason of the Said meeting was Carryed 
on very irregular and Disorderly, and Said Choice illegal and 
unfairly obtained which appeared in many particulars (viz) 

"1st. That many of the Persons who gave in their votes 
(as we apprehend) ware unquallefied by Law So to give in 
tlieir Votes and althow objections ware made against Several 
Persons, yet No man being Put to the Test whether they 
ware Quallefied or Not according to Charter, the Selectmen 
one of them at Least Declaired No Justice Present would 
Sware any Person and ye Town Clerk Could Not while Sd 
Keen being the Justice was present — 

"2d. That the Said Keen in ye face of the Towne 
Meeting, Previous to Said Choice being in the front Gallery 
with a number of his Party openly Demanded the Selectmen. 
to Receive their votes according to agreement as &c. by 
which it seems to appear that the said Selectmen ware of his 
Party and that the;y made an agreement with him that he 
should be elected in an undue manner. But tliat motion of 
Jiemoveing out of their Seat being opposed by Those who 
Desired order and Rule, the Selectirien did not Comply with 
his Said Keens Demand, upon which he, Said Keen Starts 
up from his Sect and orders those of his Party to follow him, 
at which motion they all Came Down from ye Gallery in a 
furious and tumultuous maimer and he said Keen Thretning 
as he went : and Broake up all order and Rule in Said meeting 



106 



SQUIEE KEEN MANSION AND OLDHAM FAEMS 

Said Keen advancing himself to ye liat in which tlie votes 
ware and their Thrust in his Vote and ordered lliose of his 
Party wlio followed him to do the Like, which they did, and 
Took upon himself To order the Said meeting himself untill 
all the votes ware in by which means we apprehend he un- 
fairly obtained his Election. All which is Contrary to 
ye freedom of Election and a Debauchery of our 
Excellent Constitution and of an Evil Tendency as we 
apprehend. 

"Wherefore we the Subscribers, inhabitants of Said Town 
of Pembroke do Humbly Pray that the Said Josiah Keen 
may not be allowed a Sect in the Honorable House abovesaid 
in Consequence of Said Election. But that he may be Denied 
the Same, and said inhabitants Trewly and Propperly Rep- 
resented in Said Court The Present Year. 

"Dated at Pembroke ye 27th Day of May A. D. 1772. 

Aaron Soul 

Bamebas Foord 

Sarall Goold 

Josiah Barker 

Abel Stetson 

Danll Baker 

Nathl liOring Jur. 

Joseph Bearce" 
Whether the charges set forth in this petition were just or 
not; whether the Squire, as he strode out from old Harvard 
Hall that afternoon of May twenty-seventh, with Hon. John 
Hancock and Col. Williams, on tlieir way to advise the 
Governor that the House would elect Coimcillors, was 
troubled by forebodings of the storm a brewing in the Old 
Colony: can never be Imown. The remonstrance against his 
action was not presented. Certain it is, however, that he lost 
his seat next year to John Turner, and that he never again, by 
fair means or foul, succeeded in carrying an election ; and 
that he died not very much later, 9 October 1778, in the 
midst of the Eevolution, at the age of sixty-five years. Of 
his alleged confederates, the Selectmen, two — Capt. Edward 



107 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

Thomas and Capt. Thomas Turner — failed of re-election. 
Thomas Turner was my ancestor; he was also a neighbor and 
friend of Squire Keen's; and may^ I suppose, as well as an- 
other have contracted to aid him in filibustering the Meeting 
House. 

The Squire's daughters — incidentally, perhaps, the Squire's 
acres — spelt in one breath delight and despair for neighbor- 
ing swains. Suitors were many, but few found favor. Chief 
among the aspirants to the elder daughter's hand appeared 
Elisha Turner, Mariner—son of Israel, Esquire, her father's 
ancient competitor — and Tubal Cain. Tubal was Sarah's 
cousin; and iike the old blacksmith, "a man of might was 
he:" however, the sailor's lighter graces made him a better 
courtier, while to paternal eyes greater still seemed the dis- 
parity between a yeoman's narrow prospect and the rich 
chances of the India trade. But with his hope of victory 
Tubal's love did not wane. Returning one night in company 
from North River — he from some errand, young Turner 
from a crxiise — and each maintaining valiantly his prior 
claim upon tlie smiles of Sarah, the rivals came to blows. 
Just before they came opposite Dr. Hall's, some taunt of 
Tubal's fired the Turner temper: Elisha surprised him; 
seized him by the queue; and taking a secure turn of it 
about a convenient fence-post, proceeded to improve the ad- 
vantage. But a stouter cable was needed to hold the mighty 
Tubal under such indignity. Something }'ielded — not the 
fence, averreth our legend, nor yet the hand of Elisha — and 
Tubal wrenched clear. V.liat happened then is not related: 
nor have we the subsequent history of the queue. The prize 
of conquest, we know, went to the sailor. Dead these many 
generations are he and his household; his descendants rei- 
itioved so long ago from the village that they are scarcely a 
name: but of his own address and valour, fond tradition still 
cherishes the memory, and loves to tell how that night by the 
dusky wayside, in the hollow below the Barker burying 
ground, he fought for his lady with Tubal Cain. 

The marriage of Sarah Keen and Captain Turner took 



108 



SQUIRE KEEN MANSION AND OLDHAM FARMS 

place in 1781. Two years later, 28 March 1783, the home- 
stead was divided betAveen thcni and their sister Rebecca, to 
whom fell the house with land adjoining. The westerly tract 
— including a causeway, now the lane of Mr. LeFurgey — 
was beld until ISOl by the Turners; then transferred to 
Daniel Ford of Boston and Pembroke, Mariner, whose widow 
long retained it; and finally, in 1810, by result of litigation, 
became the homestead of Benjamin Barker. Madam Sarah, 
the widow, died in 1784: Rebecca lived on at the old house, 
until in 1791 she married a "braw Scottish wooer," William 
Dall of Boston, Merchant, and removed tliither to a stately 
mansion which once stood on Washington street, some distance 
above Dover, surrounded by ancient trees and a tract of rich 
grass land extending to the water-side. 

In 1795 William and Rebecca, for $1833, conveyed the 
homestead — ^now of some 67 acres only — to her half-brother 
Joseph Tilden of Boston, Mariner. His widow, Sarah 
Til den, succeeded to the estate before 1801 ; and perhaps for 
some years made it her home. I have heard, also, that Elisha 
Turner occupied it during this period, and that hence was 
the warm affection for Pembroke always cherished by his 
daughter Mrs. Livingston. Sarah, his other daughter, mar- 
ried Col. Alexander Scammell, son of Gov. John and Lucy 
Brooks. Their sons, John and George, became officers in the 
Navy and Army, respectively; their daughter, Lucy, married 
Edward L. Keys in 1843. 

The next owner of Squire Keen's mansion — which 
henceforth passes out of his family — ^was Horace Collamore, 
Merchant of Boston, son of Capt. Enoch of Scituate: Mr. 
Collamore bought the estate for $1450 in 1821. Two years 
later, as Gentleman of Pembroke, he conveyed it to the three 
minor sons of his brother Oilman ; whose decision to remove 
from Boston had precipitated a family quarrel. His wife, 
Maria Eliza Hoffman, never resided here. Upon liis death, 
she speedily wedded Israel Ames of Boston, Merchant: who 
acted as guardian of her three sons — Oilman, John Hoffman, 
and George Washington ; and in that capacity, on 24th April 



109 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

1834, transferred their estate — which, for several years just 
precerling, had been occupied by Mr. Elisha Barker — to 
their imcle Dr. Anthony Collamore, agent for Josiah Barker 
of Charlestown. Of these youngsters, John Hoffman died a 
bachelor, and left his wealth to the Masons; General George 
perished in a well on his farm in Kansas, where his wife had 
concealed him from the sharp eyes of a detachment of 
Southern cavalry. 

Josiah Barker of Charlestown, Gentleman, was the son of 
Ebenezer and Priscilla Barker of Pembroke, and a des- 
cendant from Robert Barker through Francis, Ebenezer, and 
Josiah. Born in 1763, in l'i7'i he entered on a military 
career which lasted throughout the war, and embraced both 
branches of the service, army and navy. After peace was 
declared, he settled at Pembroke, and applied himself to 
shipbuilding— -then the chief industry along North River: 
but in 1795 transferred his business to CharlestowTi, whither 
in 1799 he removed with his family. From about the year 
1810, he held the position of Naval Constructor at the Navy 
Yard; and there in 1834 rebuilt the famous old frigate 
Constitution. This year he bought the Collamore property: 
which he retained until in 1843, after a service of thirty-four 
years at Charlestown, he was ordered to Portsmouth ; and 
then conveyed in part, for Jfil400, to David Oldham, Esquire, 
of Pembroke — husband of his sister Deborah. Mr. Barker 
died 23 September 1847. His wife was Penelope, daughter 
of that Capt. Seth Hat<?h who ran the blockade of Quebec in 
his sloop Clamshell, carrying supplies to General Wolfe: 
neither she nor her descendants since 1843 made Pembroke 
their home. 

Thomas Oldham was an early settler of Scituate. His son 
Thomas resided in Duxbnry when, by a deed dated 16 April 
1693, he purchased for £14 silver, through Major William 
Bradford, from "Jeremiah Indian of Mattakeessit in the 
County of Plimouth and Abigail his wife or squa only 
daughter and sole heir of Josias Chickatabut Indian Sachem 
late deceased" a tract of 100 acres on the north shore of 



110 



s 






ON 







SQUIEE KEEN MANSION AND OLDHAM FARMS 

Oldham or Monument Pond. The bounds were settled 
before James Bishop and Thomas T/ambert, and the grant 
confirmed by a receipt from Jeremiah dated 1694. Thomas 
Oldham seems never to have settled on his purchase. By 
aji instrument dated 20 Jime 1695 — which was confirmed 
by deed in 1702 — he obliged himself to give half of his land 
at Mattakeesett to his brother Isaac : who built that summer, 
it is said, a dwelling on the site of Oldham Farm ; and in 
the late autumn married and brought thither his wife 
Hannah, daughter of Josiah and Hannah Keen of Duxbury, 
and aunt of Squire Josiah. 

The Oldham grant included just one tenth of those 
Thousand Acres which shrewd old Josias had always been 
careful to reserve expressly from his cessions of territory — 
notably of the Major's Purchase in 1662 — about Herring 
Ponds; and which Abigail and her half-caste husband, Jere- 
miah, were now hastening to dispose of at two shillings nine 
pence the acre. The domain of the Massachusetts was indeed 
sadly shnmken since that September day in 1621 when 
Cliikkatabak their Emperor, issuing from the fastnesses of 
Namassakeesett and appearing at Plymouth with Quadaquina 
and seven other inferior sachems, acknowledged himself the 
royal subject of King James. The nation tlien numbered 
some 3000 warriors; and ranged a territor}^ which, including 
the Blue Hills of Milton, on its south-easterly boundary- 
extended from Titicut, near Taunton, to Nishamagoguanett, 
near Duxbury- mill. Chikkatabak's village was during most 
of the year at Neponset, but frequently also — it seems 
probable — at Namassakeesett, near Herring Ponds; which 
after him became the sole residence of the sachem's family. 
He perished, with many of his people, in the small-pox 
epidemic of 1633 ; and was succeeded by Josias, his son, 
variously styled Wam.patuck and Chickatabut. Josias had 
one son, Charles Josiah; to whoin, not later than 1662, he 
gave the Thousand Acres, in joint tenure with George, 
styled '-"Wampy" — doubtless a corru])tion of Wampatuck. 
The frequency of the latter name among these Indians is 



111 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

easily explained as a direct eouseqiient of its literal meaning 
wild-goose. In 1684 Josias' flock at Namassakeeseitt had 
dwindled to forty persons; and — as we have seen already — 
by 1693, he and his son were dead. His daughter Abigail 
and her hnsband Jeremiah, styled Momontaug or Mumma- 
togue, succeeded him : their children were Patience, called 
Sunny Eye, and Charles Josiah. Jeremy died before 1713. 
The apocryphal legend of Hobomoc has much to say of 
Patience' husband Wachita — the Stag — and daughter Ertil, 
or Wild Rose ; of their untimely deaths ; of a second pesti- 
lence ; of the flight into Tunk, and Patience' destitution : 
whether the persons mentioned are each and all as mythical 
as the haunted stump, I know not. Before the personality 
of good old Queen Sunny Eye, at least, scepticism stands 
silent. She died very aged in 1788, and her funeral was 
attended by the minister of the First Parish in Pembroke. 

Isaac Oldham tilled his new plantation forty years, dying 
in 1736: his son Isaac, born 1709, succeeded to the home- 
stead; where he resided until his death in 1796. The 
pioneer's dwelling was by this time weather-worn and rickety; 
his grandson David, born 1741, occupied a house which he 
had erected a few rods to the eastward on the other side of 
the road ; and it remained for David Junior, born 1776, 
husband of Deborah Barker, to rebuild in 3 804 on the ancient 
site. 

David Oldham. Esquire, was a man of prominence in his 
day. That day came before the rule of rotation in office — of 
which, undoubtedly, the worst phase appearing in this region 
is a restriction of the Representative's service — had gained 
much favor; and Squire Oldham, with his sons, enjoyed 
fully the freedom of their tim.e. Eighteen years — 1815-23: 
1826-32: 1834-5— he was a member of the Board of Select- 
Tiien, and generally its chairman. He acted as moderator at 
many Town Meetings between 1823 and 1838. Together 
with his toAvn affairs, he handled much business as justice: 
he was frequently chosen to office by the First Parish; and 
his fine handwriting, surpassed in regularity of stroke only 



112 




c 
c 



f^ 



SQUIRE KEEN MANSION AND OLDHAM FARMS 

by Deacon Oliver WLitten's, is conspicuous upon its books. 
He was associated in many legal transactions with Judge 
Kilbom WTiitraan — who was, on the other hand, a notably 
poor writer — and consequently, gained considerable skill in 
deciphering that gentleman's script. One town meeting day, 
Judge WHiitnian, acting as Moderator, had occasion to read 
an article of the warrant which he himself, as Chairman of 
the Selectmen, had drawn. Tlie labyrinth of letters was 
beyond him. "Here, Oldham !" cried the Judge at last, non- 
plussed; "do you read this: for upon my word, I can make 
nothing of it." 

The Keen estate Squire Oldham purchased as a homestead 
for his son John Oldham the Miller, bom 1809 ; who in 1843 
married his cousin Adeline, daughter of David Mann and 
Rebecca Oldham, and took up his residence there. He it- 
was who in youth, with his brother General Oldham, sowed 
the first seedings of pine cones in the Indian Fields. Fi'om 
ibis remnant of the Thousand Acres, a clearing which had 
for untold generations witnessed most of the Massachusetts' 
half-hearted attempts at agriculture, sprang forthwith the 
mighty pines whose survivors still make beautiful the eastern 
shore of Oldham, and whose more or less remote descendants 
wave and whisper above the ancient planting ground. 

He loved well the sights and soimds which surrounded his 
boyhood — the ceaseJess ripple among the reeds of the lake- 
shore; the reeds themselves, bending and slatting before a 
south-westerly gale; the crimson sun, setting cloudy behind 
wooded cape and islands, with maybe a flock or two of black- 
bonnetted wampatukh floating in the quiet water between; 
the honknig of the geese, borne from far do^vn lake on the 
crisp, chilly air of Novenjber nights, stirring the sportsman's 
pulses and admonishing him of Thanksgiving— all these he 
knew and loved, and drank in the wild beautiful old Indian 
legends, their counterpart — notably the ancient tale of 
Monument Island, of which the hero is yet another Wam- 
patuck— and the rude old songs, now long forgotten, whose 
melodies his violin knows but will not reawaken where they 



113 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

sleep with tlie touch of Mr. Oldham's fingers upon the 
wasted strings. Stories, too, tliere were of witch and warlock, 
of Nancy Tamar and Black Pero, the wizard fiddler, his 
neighbor: these, too, have mostly perished. It must not be 
thought, however, that Mr. Oldham vie^\ed the Pond solely 
from an antiquarian or aesthetic standpoint : he was an eager 
sportsman — who, on one occasion, stuck not at quitting his 
bed before cockcrow, and for want of time to don a peajacket, 
stalking a brace of fine geese in his night-gown; when he 
came to live at the Keen place, he added a Gunnery to the 
two already named closets existing in that mansion, whereof 
the larger is still known as the Nunnery, and that which is 
])robably the older, as the Nazarite ! 

Among scanty fragments preserved from a rich store of 
Indian tradition, that pertaining to Monument Island in 
Oldham Pond and the legendary chief of the Massachusetts 
whose death it commemorates, is perhaps the most unworthy 
of omission. We have not for it the language of Mr. 
Oldham, and our loss is ill supplied by a version which — 
avdax juvenia — I wrote in rhyme from another's telling, 
and called: 

THE LEGEND OF WAMPATUCK 

Stranger, raarkst thou yonder island 

By the lake's far western shore? 
Famed in ancient Indian legend, 

Wouldst thou hear its story o'er? 
Dead and gone are they that reared it. 

But the tale of their intent 
In the mind of man yet lingers — 

'Tis an isle of monument. 

Though the ancient robe of Nature 
Clothes it in spontaneous green, 

Human hands its fabric builded 
WTiere the waters erst had been: 

In the tribes of Mattakeesett 



114 



SQUIRE KEEN MANSION AND OLDHAM FARMS 

Was the legend handed down; 
Still its echoes faintly whisper 

O'er their graves so lone and brown. 

A council sat beside the lake, 

A dai'k and fearsome band, 
Each warrior in his war-paint, 

His war-club in his hand; 
And o'er each stern and sullen face 

A smile of savage glee 
Played, like the lightning's baleful gleam 

Upon a stormy sea. 

For scarce three suns were past since they 

Had left their northland home 
About the peaceful villages 

Of Wampatuck to roam: 
They reached the lake at sunset, 

And through the short spring night 
Prowled round the silent wigwams 

Till broke the morning light; 

All day they hid in thickest shade 

Of matted brier and vine ; 
In the still midnight creeping forth 

Beneath the she'tering pine. 
They rushed to their work of slaughter, 

And ere the rising sun 
Some had they slain, though more were fled, 

And captive held they one. 

Now at the cool, fresh morning breeze 
Did sombre pines with summer's trees 

Join in a whispering melody, 
The sun shine bright upon the lake. 
Among the reeds the ripples break, 

The wild birds sing right merrily. 

But little recked the Council 
If wood and lake were fair, 



115 



ANCIENT LANDMAEKS OF PEMBROKE 

For in their liearts were hatred 

And anger and despair: 
Full in their midst stood Wanipatuek ; 

With stern and fearless eye 
He gcoraed the threatening circle, 

Though pain and death were nigh. 

He knew the sheltering marshes where 

His tribe in safety lay, 
He Imew tlie treacherous path that wound 

Its black and tortuous way 
Within their last retreat— he Icnew, 

But answer made he none; 
Then quoth a nortliland chieftain : 

"The death-race he shall run." 

Two lines of stalwart warriors stood 
A living arcade from the wood 

Down, to the open sandy shore ; 
On their bronzed arms the sunlight glanced, 
And on their war-clubs, high advanced 

The runner's toilsome path before. 

Proudly he climbed the low green knoll, 

And viewed the fading morn 
On the blue lake and solemn woods 

And fields of waviug corn; 
Then from his fields he turned him 

Unto the deadly race. 
And sped between the crashing lines 

Of ruthless club and mace. 

Twice fifty warriors smote him 

Ere through the ranks he won, 
Yet, blind and crushed and bleeding, 

Natheless he stumbled on : 
One sure escape lay open now; 

And from the hateful shore 
He sprang far in the foaming lake, 

And sank — to rise no more. 



116 




mi" 



cC :^ 



o s 



P 



SQUIEE KEEN MANSION AND OLDHAM FAEMS 

The baffled foe departed safe 

To their far northern land, 
And ere the cornfields waved again, 

They mourned the avenger's hand: 
But o'er the grave of Wampatuck 

His grateful tribe upreared 
A rocky cairn, whose summit broad 

Above the lake appeared. 

Year by year it rose and broadened. 

For each passer cast a stone. 
And in harvest all the village 

To his tribute joined its own; 
Till at last, heaped by the waters 

With their drift of soil and seeds, 
Eose a green and pleasant island 

In its belt of sand and reeds. 

Stranger, mark thou yonder island 

By the lake's far western shore; 
Famed in ancient Indian legend. 

Thou hast heard its story o'er: 
Dead and gone are they that reared it, 

But the tale of their intent 
In the minds of men yet lingers — 

'Tis the Isle of Monument. 

John Oldham followed in his father's footsteps, and was 
a selectman of Pembroke 1866-1869. For many years he ran 
the grist mill close by the Garrison: and for the rest, 
cultivated his farm. He died 6 July 1871, aged sixty-two 
years; his widow, in 181)7. The daughters of Mr. Oldham 
occupy his fine old homestead, and them I have to thank for 
a great deal of interesting and valuable information about 
ttie place. 

Far and — I suppose — by this time almost forgotten, are 
Josiah Keen the Conspirator and his traflfickings. To me, 
he has of late been a figure very often present; since at hia 



117 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

ancient secretary, according to tradition, most of the work 
upon these Landmarks was done. It was purchased from 
Capt. Turner by Peter Salmond, and thus descended to my 
mother. Still on its sum.mit flames the torch of sandalwood, 
and on the lid an ostrich grasps a writhing serpent in his 
beak, and in the arch above the bookshelves that angel Gabriel 
winds his trumpet whom Squire Josiah so resolutely defied. 
]jet us pray the Angel make light of his rough-house ; writing 
large his better character, and the high service which he did 
ihe Town. 



118 




The Turner ButtomvooJs 
1765 



XI. The Deacon Whitman 
Homestead. 



Beautiful they were, in sooth. 
The old man and the fiery youth! 
The Master, in whose busy brain 
Many a ship that sailed the main 
Was modelled o'er and o'er again; — 
The fiery youth, who was to be 
The heir of his dexterity. 

UST over the stream from the Judge Whitman 
place stands another house long connected in 
village tradition with the name and family of 
Whitman. It rises on the brow of a hill 
commanding the meadow of the Herring 
Brook; and like its fellow, is shaded by several 
of the rare button wood trees. It is singular 
that these, the Occidental plane-trees of which 
on one occasion Whittier told, abounding along 
our western rivers under the name of cotton- 
woods, sycamores, or water-beeches, are seldom cultivated in 
Massachusetts: and still more singular that the finest 
specimens in town all sheltered ^Vliitman liomesteads. The 
massive trunks that were Judge Whitman's pride are now 
Ecarred and broken; those on the Seth WTiitman estate still 
"wag their high tops" against the westerly gales of autumn, 
and wear lightly their hundred and forty years. Family 
tradition tells us that they were planted by Joanna, bride of 
Thomas Turner, on her wedding-day in 1765. 




ANCIENT LANDMAEKS OF PEMBEOKE 

Ah Jove principium sang the ancient poet. Every 
mstitntion in Pembroke seems traceable to a Barker. The 
lands adjoining the middle course of the Herring Brook came 
into possession of the Barker family about 1650. The 
earliest recorded owner of this homestead was Samuel — eldest 
eon of Isaac, and grandson of the first Eobert, who founded 
their estate. Samuel Barker married in Sandwich a girl of 
lespectable, though humble, parentage: her social standing, 
however, was not such as to satisfy the high ideal of the 
proud old Pembroke patroon; who, after a violent family 
quarrel, made Pembrolce and life there so unpleasant for liis 
brother that he determined to leave this place forever, and 
remove to his wife's native town of Sandwich. 

Such episodes were not of frequent occun-ence in colonial 
New England. Seldom was there foimd a family so humble 
or one so wealthy and proud withal that an alliance between 
them caused serious trouble. It is related that Joanna of 
the buttonwoods had an uncle Benjamin, who instituted an 
exception to the rule. TTis father, Cornelius White of 
Marshfield, lived at White's Ferry, now called Humarock; 
and held in that region a large estate, inherited from his 
grandfather, Lieutenant Peregrine. Young Benjamin, like 
many another, thought more of good looks than of Pilgrim 
blood or broad acres; and proceeded to fall heels over head in 
love with Hannah, daughter of Eobert Decrow, the village 
blacksmith. She is reputed to have been of Indian descent: 
her grandfather, Valentine Decrow — who appears in Marsh- 
field about 1670 — was more probably a Frenchman, and a 
refugee from the earlier persecutions of King Louis; her 
grandmother was of the family of Thomas Besbedge, 
Gentleman. It appears, therefore, that the only true charge 
against her was that she was poor. The marriage ceremony 
took place — how clandestinely we are not told. Comelius, 
in his anger, forbade his son ever to live in that neighborhood 
again; and banished him forthwith to Hanover. He cut the 
>omig fellow off, however, with a good deal more than the 
lawful shilling. All that a powerful yoke of oxen could 



120 



THE DEACON WHITMAN HOMESTEAD 

haul in the creaking farrn cart, was carried away into exile. 
Up from the broad Marshfield meadows, through the hills 
that enclose North River on its right, the little household 
came; crossing that stream by the ancient bridge called 
Barstow's, and journeying on into Hanovei" by the rough 
track now Broadway until they reached the Hatch place in 
Hannier's Hook, which Cornelius White had purchased as a 
homestead farm for his son. All this happened in 1743, 
The Whites prospered in Hanover, and their house became 
the nucleus of an estate nearly as large as their lost patri- 
mony. It was occupied until about the year 1860 by Albert 
WTiite, Esquire, a descendant; and with his death passed 
from the family. 

Another of Joanna's uncles was Cornelius, Juruor — better 
known to the gay blades who made Plymouth tavern their" 
rendezvous, as "Corny" White. Him Old Colony tradition 
holds leader or second in many an escapada He was one, 
although not last, of the "also rans" outstripped by General 
John Winslow's famous ride across Beach Channel. His 
true claim to notoriety, however, rests upon an adventure all 
his own. Dining once of an evening at the Bunch of Grapes, 
with a select company who speedily drained tliat hostelry's 
mightiest punchbowl, he discovered that mine host's failure 
1o replenish was due to a shortage of lemons; furthermore, 
that there was not a lemon to be had this side of Boston. 
Corny swore that no guest of his should thirst for lack of a 
lemon : pledging his friends to await his return, he moimted, 
and rode off at a gallop into the darlmess of the northerly 
road. For those left behind without a lemon, the night — we 
may be sure— passed slowly enough. Just as day was break- 
ing, Cornelius drew rein before the Bunch of Grapes, a net 
of the precious fruit hanging at his saddlebow. He had 
covered since nightfall seventy-five miles. The horse died, 
but Corny's friends whetted their pimch with lemon. SmaU 
wonder that when Captain Thomas brought home his Marsh- 
field bride, the eyes of orthodox Pembroke were opened, and 
Mistress Turner's latest became thenceforth a fruitful topic 
at her neighbours' supper-tables. 

121 



ANCIENT LANDMAEKS OF PEMBROKE 

In 1714 Sanme] Barker of Sandwiicli, Bricklayer, for £500 
conveyed to Ephraini Nichols, Cordwainer, "the one 
raoiety or half part of his messuage, farm, tenement, or 
tract of land both meadow and upland, situate in Pembroke, 
including two hundred acres more or less :" by a similar deed 
of tlie year preceding, he had conveyed an equal holding to 
Nathaniel Nichols, uncle of Ephraim. The Nichols family 
were natives of If ingham : but had now removed to Pembroke, 
in company with Nathaniel's son-in-law Nehemiah Gushing. 
For some years they oAVTied in common the dwelling on their 
estate: Nathaniel held his raoiety until his death; but the 
other half changed hands, with amazing rapidity, among his 
numerous sons-in-law. Tn 1722 Ephraim sold to Nathaniel 
Davis of Taimton, husband of his cousin Eebecca, a half in- 
terest in the house, well, cellar, and homestead of half an 
acre. Two years later, Davis transferred tliis interest to 
another son-in-law. Captain Nehemiah Cushing, who lived in 
the Judge Wliitman house. Captain Cushing dealt much in 
real estate; and in the fall of 1725, sold his moiety — together 
with four acres east of the highway — to his kinsman Elisha 
Bisbee; who took up his residence there. Nathaniel Nichols 
continued to hold the otlier moiety until, upon his death in 
1732, it passed to Sarah his widow: I find no record of ita 
transfer from her to Elisha Bisbee. 

Elisha Bisbee, Esquire, was born in Scituate, 28 February 
1687, son of Elisha Bisbee, Junior. His early years were 
spent in Hingham, whither his father had removed after hia 
marriage to Mary Bacon of that town; but he chose to be 
his home the village where dwelt his second cousin Nehemiah 
Cushing. His public service in Peni broke was brief, but 
distinguished; from 1725 until 1737, he held continuously 
the post of its representative at the General Court, excepting 
two years filled by Thomas Barker and Isaac Little, Esquires. 
While holding that office, he was at one time chairman 
of the House committee on the important subject of the 
Goveimor's salary: when, on account of the interference of 
the King and his ministers in that matter, the Province was 



122 



THE DEACON WHITMAN HOMESTEAD 

much agitated: and he was in 1734 one of those detailed to 
attend the Governor at his interview with the Cagnawaga 
and other Indian tribes on its western frontier. Tn 1735 ill 
health compelled him to decline service on committees; and 
it was in spite of great physical infirmity that in 1736 he 
got through the House a grant to the Town of Pembroke of 
liva hundred acres of Province land, "the better to enable 
them to keep a grammar school therein." This tract lay in 
the rich Connecticvt valley, including the southern portion 
of the present town of Northfield : it was long improved by 
tlie Town under the title of the '•'School Farm ;" and was 
finally sold, in 1768, at the now ridiculous price of $3 an 
acre. 

Toward the close of his last spring in Boston, Mr. Bisbee 
addressed to his wife the following letter, dated 4 June 
1736:— 

"My Dear: 

These with my love come to let you know that I hope in 
about ten days to see you; God willing. As to my health, I 
can say but little about it ; but am much as I was. When 
the weather is very hot I lie by, and when the air is thick 
I dare not go out, but am as careful as I can. I have got 
on a stomach plaster again ; I hope it is of some service. I 
shall, I think, bring you some flax and cotton wool ; but they 
are very dear. Flax I cannot have under two shillings and 
live pence, and take a good quantity. As to sheep's wool, 
don't neglect to go to John Little, Esq., claim his promise, 
and tell him you must have what you have occasion for, etc. 
Give my duty to my mother, ray love to my cliildren, sister, 
and all friends ; which, in haste, is all at present. 

From your loving husband, 
Elisha Bisbee." 

The General Court, of which Elisha Bisbee had now been 
for the last time a member, was dissolved 4 February, 1737; 
and on the thirteenth day of March following, the "Honest 
Lawyer" passed away, in the fiftieth year of his age. A 



123 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

month later his mother was laid heside him, and this 
inscription placed above her grave: 

"here lies the body of MRS. MARY 
BISBEE WIFE TO ELISHA BISBEE OF 
HINQHAM GENTL DIED APRIL 16, 
1737, IN THE 83d YEAR OF HER AGE." 

By the division of Elisha Bisboe's estate, the homestead 
passed to the husband of his daughter Sarah — Daniel Lewis, 
Esquire, only surviving son of the Reverend Daniel Lewis, 
first pastor of the Firet Church in Pembroke. The legislative 
mantle fell on Daniel, Esquire; who was elected representa- 
tive for 1737 and 1738, and later for 1744 and 1745. He 
held the oifice of town treasurer, 1739-1746; and of town 
clerk from 1741 until his death in 1759. Town meetings 
were sometimes held at his house; and as clerk for 1741, he 
had the honor of recording there that famous Resolution on 
Bills of Credit — in whose close of uncompromising yet 
dignified protest its faulty economics are, to my mind, much 
more than retrieved — directing the representative of Pem- 
broke in General Court "at all times firmly to adhere to our 
Charter Rights and Preveiledges as also to our English Rights 
Preveiledges and Constitutions any of his Majesty's 
Royal Instructions to the Contrary Notwithstanding." 
The Resolution was a product of the Land Bank 
controversy, the bearing of which upon Plymouth County 
has been well sho\^Ti in a recent article by Mr. W. W. Bryant 
of Brookline. In his discussion of the Bank, Mr. Bryant 
remarks how severe was the distress occasioned to this town, 
as compared with neighboring communities, through its 
unjust and tyrannous suppression by act of Parliament; 
eight of the inhabitants — among them so influential a man 
as Esquire Little — being subscribers. I venture to disagree 
with his conclusion in thinking that, these circumstances 
considered, the wise moderation characterizing — so far as we 
can learn — Pembroke's policy at such a crisis, is more ad- 
mirable than the independent spirit which she displayed in 



124 



THE DEACON WHITMAN HOMESTEAD 

common with her neighbors; and that both together confer 
upon her then citizens praiseworthy distinction, if not 
preeminence, among patriots of the earlier colonial days. 

Daniel must have been, on all accoimts, an interesting 
character. His father had graduated from Harvard College 
in the Class of 1707: "Junior" followed in 1734. Until the 
year 1773, the members of each class were enrolled on the 
college register in an order established during freshman 
year, and based solely upon the respective social rank of their 
parents. The Class of 1734 numbered twenty-seven men; in 
the list of that class, the name of Daniel Lewis stand»s 
seventh. Whether he lived up to the traditions of the Four 
Hundred and the equally proverbial Minister's Son, is not 
revealed. In later life, he was reputed somewhat of a 
spendthrift; it was perhaps with the purpose of replenishing 
his coffers that in 1754 ho sold for £100 to Jeremiah 
Hall of Pembroke, Physician, his dwelling with its lot of 
half an acre, and four acres beyond the highway, where a 
bam had by this time been built. From Nehemiah Gushing 
Dr. Hall purchased a garden next his homestead on the east, 

Not himself a native of the Old Colony, he had resided in 
Hanover since his marriage to Miss Elizabeth Bailey of that 
town in 1748; and now took up his residence in Pembroke. 
It was from this house that he went forth to tlie Old French 
War, in which he served as a surgeon. In later years, ho 
became a member of the Pro^-incial Congress ; and an officer, 
with the rank of lieutenant colonel, in the Eevolution : his 
Ron Jeremiah, a boy of seventeen, died at the siege of Boston 
''in the Service of his Country, Opposeing the Tyranny of 
Britain and Britain's Tyrant." Toward the end of his life, 
he was for a while iowa clerk and treasurer, and representa- 
tive at the General Court. Long before this, however, he had 
in 17G1 for £258 disposed of his homestead; and soon 
removed to a house in North Pembroke, now the home of 
Hon. Francis P. Arnold. 

The new owner was Thomas Turner, Senior, of Pembroke, 
styled Gentleman, He was a rich shipbuilder, residing in a 



126 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

many-windowed mansion near North River, just east of the 
hridge; whither he had removed from Scituate, in 1737, to 
establish a ship3'ard — still traceable in the point of land 
making out upon the Pembroke shore two hundred yards or 
more below the present arch. From the River his qistate 
spread inland, supported by the proceeds of the yard, until 
he was master of some four hundred acres of farm and forest 
in what is now northern Pembroke. lie married Mary 
Bryant, eldest daughter of Thomas, Esquire, of Scituate. Of 
their eight children, Mary married Capt. Seth Hatch of 
Pembroke; Lucy, Nathaniel Cushing, Esq., of the West 
Parish; and Mercy, her cousin Philip Turner of Scituate — 
"King Philip" of the broad acres and the many wives — from 
whom she was divorced, by an order of the General Court, in 
1780. Thomas Turner was, for some years, selectman of 
Pembroke; and a captain of its militia before, and perhaps 
during, the Revolution. lie was a friend and business 
associate of John Hancock : a biography of that gejntleman 
preserves notice of his correspondence with the Captain and 
Mrs. Turner; but I have not seen the letters. The Turner 
mansion descended to the second son, Colonel George; is now 
the residence of Major Trafton; and still contains a secret 
chaml)er— built, doubtless, for the accommodation of Captain 
Thomas's Tory friends. 

The Whitman homestead was transferred in 1763 to 
Thomas Turner, Junior, styled Sliipwright; who proceeded 
to annex several acres on the soutli owned by Capt. Cushing, 
and came to live there about 1705. In that year, he was 
married — by General John Winslow of Acadian fame — to 
Joanna, eldest daughter of Captain Nathaniel Phillips of 
Marshfield. Of their three children, Charles and Joanna 
were born before, and Thomas after, the Revolution. That 
contest brought troublous times to the Turner household. 
Although his daughter proved a good patriot, Captain Phil- 
lips himself remained a stout old royalist undaunted by the 
threats and insults of his neighbors : he it was who, on one 
occasion, was sought after by the Sons of Liberty with a coat 



126 



THE DEACON WHITMAN HOMESTEAD 

of tar, and escaped only by having himself ferried over the 
North Eiver under cloud of night into Scituate. During the 
eariier years of the war, Thomas Turner, when in Pembroke, 
acted on the Committee of Correspondence: but from 1775 
until 1779, was a captain in tlie militia or in the Continental 
Army, and therefore seldom at home; serving at the siege of 
Boston, and in the midland campaigns. 

After the storms of war were past, Captain Turner's public 
services — like those of many another — were devoted chiefly 
to furtherance of the herring monopoly: in private life, he 
won considerable fame as a royal entertainer. The income 
from his shipyard, and from lus landed estate of several hun- 
dred acres, supplied ample wherewithal; and he understood 
the noble art of wining and dining as well as another. 
Neighborhood tradition relates that he numbeired among his 
guests tlie Governor himself — John Hancock, his junior by 
two years: his acquaintance with whom — begun, doubtless, 
through Hancock's relations with his father — the fortunes of 
war, in occasional meetings between the younger men, may 
have continued. His house — which, like most others in those 
days, fronted south — was of a peculiar construction, and 
afforded in the broad hall extending along its whole western 
side, a space well suited for the dancing parties which it was 
his pleasure to give. Diamond-paned windows opened upon 
a prospect of upland pasture and meadow; at the back, a 
winding staircase ascended, which bore on its first landing 
the Turner clock, brought overseas out of England; and 
opposite the windows glowed the huge open fireplace, where 
Thomas was wont to busy liimself in concocting divers 
beverages dear to his genial heart. His daughter, Joanna, 
played the violin — an accomplishment rarer among ladies 
then than now: and if the village gallants insisted on pro- 
posing her health until even the good Captain himself, who 
was no three-bottle man, grew a little merry ; f do not find it 
in my heart to blame them. Her portrait, in riding habit 
and beaver, painted by Dr. Hathaway of Duxbury, is yet in 
existence; and shows across the features a curious scar. This 



127 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

waa the work of an Irish servant of Joanna, then Mrs. 
Whitman; who, in some fit of anger, recklessly flung a carv- 
ing knife at her mistress' effigy. 

Charles, the elder son, graduated at Harvard in the Class 
of 1788, and studied medicine with Dr. Hall. After his 
iiiarriage in 1789 to Ruth, daughter of Captain Ichabod 
Thomas, he lived in the old Robert Barker place, where the 
house of Nathaniel Groce now stands. His career was cut 
short by an untimely death 9 August, 1804: while riding 
home through the warm, dark summer night, in an 
intoxicated condition, he was dashed by his horse against a 
low-hanging limb, and instantly killed. His house became 
known to fame as the Morse Tavern — kept by Jabez Morse, 
who married his widow. Mr. Morse was a man of some 
education, but so crabbed and difficult to get along with that 
the stories of him are legion. It is related that he once 
awakened his wife at midnight on Thanksgiving eve, and the 
following colloquy resulted :"V\1iat pies have you made for 
Thanksgiving, Mrs. Morse?" — "Mince, custard, and pumpkin 
pies, Mr. Morse.*' — "WTiat ! no apple pies, Mrs. Morse?" — 
"None, Mr. Morse." — "Out with ye, then, Mrs. Morse ! How 
in hell do you suppose T am going to eat my Thanksgiving 
dinner without an apple pie?" When mine host finally 
hanged himself in the barn, well might Capt. Silas Morton 
refuse to cut him down in the absence of a magistrate, and 
Horace Collamore, Esquire, when summoned, insist upon 
reading aloud the statutes, and sourlv remark that he had 
lived between two nuisances all his life : Jabez Morse had 
hung himself; and the schoolhouse, too, he was in hopes 
shortly to get rid of. 

Thomas, the yoimger son, had in youth distinguished 
liimself by emulating General Winslow's exploit, and swim- 
ming his horse from Duxbury Beach to Powder Point, in 
order to distance his companions. This was on the eve of 
one of Captain Thomas's dancing frolics. Later in life, he 
settled dowTi to shipbuilding, and married Deborah, daughter 
of Hon. David Stockbridge and Ruth Gushing of Hanover. 



128 




Deacon Seth Whitman 
1782- 1859 



THE DEACON WHITMAN HOMESTEAD 

Meanwhile, his grandfather — the elder Captain Thomas — ^had 
died at a good old age, in 1795; and his father removed to 
the house by the river. Their former home was, for some 
years, occupied by Captain Samuel Webb; who removeld about 
1810, and built the house now owned by Mr. Charles Dyer. 
Thomas Turner died in 180S — hastened to his grave, no 
doubt, by the disastrous Embargo- -and left it to his 
daughter Joanna: whose husband, Seth Whitman — in com- 
pany with her brother, under the firm name of Turner and 
Whitman — kept a general store in the house now occupied by 
Dr. MacMillan; residing in the Bigelow house built by 
Benjamin Whitman. The firm failed, sharing the general 
min brought upon New England's commerce by the Em- 
bargo; and they removed in 1813 to the homestead in 
Pembroke, which thenceforth may properly be called a 
Whitman place. 

It was ever the Turner habit to turn our family chronicles 
in rhyme. The exploit of the third Thomas forms no 
exception. Having occasioned in its day a deal of comment, 
it is set down for future generations' perusal in a narrative 
which fills several sheets with closely written verses, and 
bears title : 

THE BALLAD OF TURNER'S RIDE 

Loud boomed the surge on Gurnet strand. 
Loud shrilPd the night-wind cold; 

It m.oaned along the darkling strand 
And round the tavern old. 

Gray skies above, gray earth beneath, 

Gray ocean circling round. 
The graybeard host before his door 

Stood in the firelight crowned. 

With hand on brow he scans the sky, 

What night its signs forebode; 
When forth into the deepening gloom 

A belted horseman strode. 



129 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBEOKE 

A flush was on his shaded brow, 

A glint in his bohi black e'e; 
He swept at a glance the twilight shore, 

And called right heartily : 

"Ho, goodman ! for the night is come, 
The sun has left the eastern sea — 

Then where my steed and saddle gear, 
And where my comrades three? 

"For we must ride, ere night shall fall, 

Long way to Pembroke town, 
With many a quip its wine to sip 

And steandng bowl to crown." 

Mine ancient host loud laughed and long. 
And then he spake full plain : 

"On Gurnet strand seek not the lads. 
For ye will seek in vain. 

"Northward, where slow the sea-fogs steal 

O'er Marsh field meadows wide. 
Free hand on rein, quick spur on heel, 

Full merrily they ride. 

"And they have sworn a merry oath 

That whoso last comes ben. 
Such laggard shall the wassail brew 

For other swifter men. 

"Then speed ye blithely toward the town, 

And spare nor spur nor rein — 
Though, less some quicker road ye ride, 

Sure will ye ride in vain !" 

Deepens the flush on Turner's brow. 

And brighter gleams his eye. 
And "Sith naught else remains," quoth he, 

"Such road my steed shall try ! 

"Straight lies the way to Pembroke town, 
Untrodden and untried — 



130 



THE DEACON WHITMAN HOMESTEAD 

Where mortal steed ne'er passed, this night 
The King and I must ride ! 

"A champaign broad the harbor lies, 

The goal full sightly gleams; 
Yon glittering path our highway marks 

WTiere fall the late moonbeams," 

He spoke, and round th' impatient steed 

Drew fast the leathern band ; 
Looked well to bridle, girth, and curb. 

With firm and gentle hand : 

Then fondled he that haughty head. 
And strok'd the tossing mane — 

When aged hands the bridle seized, 
And stayed the parting rein. 

"Oh, think not, on such errand bent. 

To leave the firm seashore. 
And launch amid the weltering wave 

While dark the night doth lower ! 

Full darkly doth the night-rack lower. 
And cliill the mist sweep by; 

On windstrown beach and foamy reaxjh 
The Stormwraith hovers nigh ! 

"Southward no more in clanging throng 
The wild-goose wings her way ; 

In snowy drifts against the clifts 
High leaps the wind-swept spray; 

"Her foamy nest the seagull leaves, 

And inland speeds on fleeting wing- 
Then shelter thou 'neath kindly roof 
Till dawn the light shall bring. 

"Let other hands in Pembroke town 
The wassail brew at eventide : 



131 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

And bide thou here till break of mom 
Upon the lone sea-side! 

"Or if ye will not, northward far, 
Where bow yon hills to meet the bay, 

And over the marshland sweep the winds 
That are wet with the salty spray — 

"And they moan among the sedges 
While dark the night shuts down, 

And pour thedr curtains of fog and mist 
O'er the hills and roof-trees brown — 

"There aye her swift wheel turning, 

Thy mother sits, and spins, 
And waits thee long, till in the east 

The morrow morn begins." 

Nor more he spoke : or, if he spake, 

Naught else did Turner hear; 
Gave never a word, and sprung to horse, 

And swept the bridle clear. 

The aged hands were brushed aside. 

He shook the hanging rein — 
On Gurnet strand no more that night 

Might he set foot again. 

Mine ancient host looks after him, 

To follow him were fain : 
"No more on Gurnet strand, I ween, 

Shall he set foot again." 

They two along the shelving sands 

'Mid gathering darkness fled : 
He watched them — half in eagerness ; 

He watched them half in dread. 

They reach'd the point, thev reach'd the strand. 

Stood fast upon the shore; 
And then they paused a little space. 

And scanned the crossing o'er. 



132 



THE DEACON WHITMAN HOMESTEAD 

The moon was sunk; the hanging tide 

Hovered 'twixt ebb and flow; 
The long swells rose upon the beach 

With plashing soft and low. 

The plunge is ta'en ! the gallant steed 

Full bravely stems the tide: 
The quick foam curls against his breast, 

And flecks his heaving side. 

Oh, strong the surges rose beneath 

And smote on them amain ! 
And thrice they falter from the course, 

And thrice the course regain. 

For nearer still, and still more near. 

Across the heaving flood. 
Rise up the white bluffs of the shore — 

The blackness of the wood; 

And nearer still, 'mid fogsmoke white. 

The dark pines loom before: 
Till through the yearning breakers safe 

They win the firm seashore. 

Then down to earth leaped Turner, 
And clasp'd his quivering steed, 

And blest the spirit that faileth not 
In the hour of his master's need. 

Meanwhile, along the northern road, 
By the shore of the northern sea. 

Through the chill dusk of the autumn wood 
Sped fast the gallants three. 

O'er hill and dale and fog-brimm'd vale 

And meadows deep in dew. 
With many a shout and sportive jest 

Spurr'd sharp the merry crew. 



133 



ANCIENT LANDMAEKS OF PEMBROKE 

Ever and anon, on some bold hill, 

With bated breath they stand, 
To hear the ring of steel on the bridge 

Or the thud of hoofs on the hard sea-sand: 

They heard the boom of the ocean surf. 

And the slirill of frogs in the marshes wide ; 

And a vague unrest pluck'd at their hearts. 
And quickened their horses' stride. 

Slovr lags the pace, when at the last 
Through the ancient streets they wind; 

What skills it, sooth, to lead the race 

^^^^eu the goal lies many a mile behind? 

The light streams forth from the mansion door — 
^Vhat may this bustle and din betide? 

The feast is set, the tankards wet, 

And Turner nods by the warm fireside! 

''Now bring to me a pint of wine !" — 
They pledged him deep and strong; 

Wliilst brimming cups and merry jest 
The genial night prolong. 

And still, through many a fleeting year, 
In the olden towns by the northern sea, 

When rings the roar of the Gurnet surf 
And winter winds sweep o'er the lea, 

And the lads and lasses throng at dusk 
Where old wives knit by the red fireside. 

With many a murmur of fond regret. 
They tell the story of Turner's ride. 

Seth Whitman was the son of Seth Whitman and Eimice 
Bass of Bridgewater. His father died at twenty-nine years : 
and his mother married Peter Salmond of Pembroke. Thedr 
son Peter used to query, "My father was a Salmon and my 
loother was a Bass, now what kind of fish am I ?" He and 



134 



THE DEACON WHITMAN HOMESTEAD 

Seth grew up on tlie banks of the Herring Brook; pelting 
the Indians with rotten apples, and enjoying to the full its 
other diversions as in these pages related. Seth was educat- 
ed in Boston, and became a skilled accountant. He was 
toAvn clerk, 1820-1841: treasurer, 1824-1832; represemtative 
at General Court in 1837; and deacon of the First Church 
from 1819 until his death in 1859. This was hastened by 
his attendance at the March Town meeting for that year, 
whence he returned a broken man. He was succeeded as 
deacon by his son Seth; whose decease, occurring in 1891, 
concluded a seventy-two years' tenure of that office among 
tlie Whitmans. Their homestead passed to the youngest son, 
Thomas Turner. 

Meanwhile, in 1837, the old house was taken down, and 
the present built upon its site. The anciesnt ell nesi; the 
street remained unchanged, except in position; and in its 
easterly room Deacon Seth kept the Postoffice. In the con- 
ytruetion of h\< new dwelling parts of the second meeting 
house were used, and until recently could be seen in its 
kitchen fine panel work from the Turner pew. The old 
fashion of setting house and bam a half mile distant from 
each other, was fast becoming obsolete; and accordingly, 
about 1850, the latter structure was moved across the road. 
Thomas Turner Whitman was a carpenter by trade; and is 
responsible for the building of this house, as for that of many 
another in town. "He made good houses," an old friend of 
his once said to me. He became "Uncle Tom" to this 
Northern village: and it was a name used lovingly by all his 
acquaintance. His first wife was Eebecca, daughter of 
Elisha Barker; his second, Jane Thomas, daughter of Eden 
Sprague Sampson of Duxbury. Of his children, John 
Turner removed to Winthrop: Alice married in 1885 Edwin 
P. Litchfield, a native of Hanover ; who, upon Mr. Whitman's 
death in 1890, succeeded to the estate, and was a selectman 
of Penihoke for some years. Mrs. Whitman dwelt on the 
homestead until her death, which occurred 12 November, 
1906; with her, the once common name of Whitman became 
in Pembroke a memory and no more. 

135 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

She was my grandmother; and had her hand but written 
what her lips told^ this LandmarJc — like many of the others 
— would rightly have borne her name. Her stories of Pem- 
broke and her native town of Duxbury were inexhaustible; it 
has seemed to me that few could tell stories so well as she — I 
think the secret is that she enjoyed them as much as we did. 
When I began these papers she was still living. How often 
since her death have I found a blank in their annals, and 
started to go to her room in the east corner: believing that 
I must find her there ready, as ever of old, to sit down in her 
rocking-chair by the window, and tell me strange tales of 
the Deacon and Uncle Peter and Grandmother Turner; while 
buttonwood leaves rustled in the yard without, and tlie au- 
tumn wind sighed through Cap'n Tom's old orchard of high- 
top Bweetings beyond the road. 



186 




o 

s 

<u 

9^ 






XII. The Common. 



The lilies blossom in the pond. 
The bird builds in the tree; 

The dark pines sing on Ramoth hill 
The slow song of the sea. 




IN these days of small flocks and ample pasturage, 
we can hardly realize the great benefit derived 
by our ancestors from the existence in their 
neighborhood of a common, or public grazing- 
ground for sheep and neat cattle. To the eye 
of an early settler, his field of natural grass 
was a possession more valuable than gold or 
precious stones. It was the presence of such 
cleared land at Plymouth that first attracted 
the Pilgrim Fathers, and proved their salvation 
in the midst of a still unreclaimed wilderness. In regions 
where nature or the Indians had not done his work for him, 
the colonist turned every rod of ground he could clear, every 
rich swale or bit of meadow, to the raising of com, or the 
production of hay for winter use : from early summer till late 
autumn, his cattle must run at large, and forage for them- 
selves. Accordingly, a tract of pasturage as sparse as must 
have been that afforded by the poor soil and scanty moisture 
of Pembroke Centre, was still a welcome addition to the re- 
sources of neighboring farmers, and by them was early appro- 
priated to public use. 

Their informal action was later confirmed by the legal 
owners. A large part of the territory now included within 
the limits of this town remained, till the middle of the eigh- 
teenth centurv, under control of certain proprietors styled 



ANCIENT LANDMAEKS OF PEMBROKE 

Proprietors of the Common or Proprietors' Lands of Dux- 
bury and Pembroke. On their record appears the following 
vote, passed one year after the incorporation of Pembroke: 
"At a meeting of the Proprietors of the Common lands be- 
longing to the towns of Duxborrough and Pembrook, upon 
the 22d day of May, Anno Domini 1713 the said Proprietors 
voted . . . that their surveyor should lay out to Thomas 
Prince at the head of his lot, about two or three acres of land, 
provided he will grant as much of his land to the town of 
Duxbury, adjacent to the meeting house, to be a perpetual 
Common for a training field, etc. The said proprietors also 
voted as much to be Common near the meeting house in 
Pembrook, and that their surveyor should agree with said 
Prince about the premises." The language of this entry 
seems to show that the two or three acres specified, although 
not expressly alienated by the appropriation, were thence- 
forth to be improved under direction of the town of Pem- 
broke. 

Such was the construction placed upon this vote by the 
Town authorities. On 20th October, 1712, the Town had 
gi-anted liberty to all persons belonging to Peanbroke to build 
stables on the Common. It now proceeded to regulate the 
conditions under which citizens might avail themselves of the 
Proprietors' grant. Cattle, swine, sheep, and horses were 
allowed to run at large on the Common : the swine to be 
"Ringd and Yoakd according to the Province Law ;" and the 
ears of all creatures to be slit in a pattern forming the own- 
er's private device, or ear-mark. Valiant indeed must have 
been the housewife of those days who would venture a sally 
through the grunting, lowing, and bleating droves, to make 
her morning call at neighbor Pearce's or Cushing's beyond 
the Common. 

The bounds and extent of the lands originally granted it is 
hard, and perhaps impossible, to determine. Probably they 
comprised the space between the present sheds and a point 
near the southern gate of the cemetery; and between the 
line wall adjacent to the Town House, and the hillcrest where 



138 




c 
.a 

c 



THE COMMON 

the old burying ground comes to an end. The adjoining 
proprietors were: on the north, Daniel Lewis; on the east, 
Isaac Barker; on the south, Abraham Pearce, Junior; and on 
the west, doubtless some member of the Bonney family. 

Naturally the Common became also a comers, or point of 
junction for neighboring highways. We can trace the ori- 
gin of roads and lanes now intersecting it, in the bee-lines 
struck by early wayfarers who held convenience their first 
rule of the road. Centre Street marks the direct course fol- 
lowed by travellers from North Pembroke boimd for the 
Pearce homestead : the track leading from the neighborhood 
of the pound toward the church, is probably tlie earliest road. 
Curve Street perpetuates in our day the reverent care with 
which its eighteenth century authors circled about the bury- 
ing ground. Oldham Street is again a direct line for North 
Pembrokites going westward; and the track near the Soldiers' 
Monument, now seemingly its continuation to the Town Hall, 
was first a short cut taken by the Bonney and Josselyn 
}'Oungsters on their way to the town's first schoolhouse. 

From the Common a road led westward to the Bonney 
homestead ; and farther on, to the extensive Thomas estate in 
Timk : another ran southerly, with a sharp turn at the house 
of Abraham Pearce, to Indian Bridge between Monument 
and Furnace Ponds. Acxjess to the area at its northeastern 
comer seems to have been long a vexed question. Centre 
Street was closed against the herds that ranged the Com- 
mon, by a ponderous pair of bars; and to judge from the 
records, other obstructions made the path of the faithful 
bound for meeting a very Via Dolorosa. The new town final- 
ly settled the matter by laying out a public highway there, 
and instructing Isaac Barker, through whose land it passed, 
to "keep sd way Clear." Our first notice of Little's Avenue 
— formerly known as Cushing Court — occurs in 1715: when 
the Town voted to quitclaim the land between the homestead 
of Daniel Lewis, now the corner of the Avenue and Oldham 
Street, and the laud of Isaac Barker, now occupied by the 
liouse'of Mr. Isaac N. Foster; "excepting a right to pass the 



139 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

fence by a footpath over stiles." Thus was secured a public 
right of way from the Meeting House to the homestead of 
Joshua Gushing, Esq., later owned by Hon. Isaac Little. 

Before 1712 a meeting-house had been erected on the Com- 
luon, and probably occupied the site of the present building. 
In January of 1716, the Town voted "that scoll be kept half 
a year annually in ye midle of sd town by ye meeting house 
Annually in ye scoolhouse." This building may have stood 
on the plot where the Town Hall now is. The first master 
was Thomas Parris. As early as 1715, land adjoining to 
the meeting-house on the south was used as a burying 
ground; but long remained undistinguished from the neigh- 
boring Common proper. In 1730 the Town received, by 
exchange with Abraham Pearce, a lot of land which first 
became part of the Common; later, most of it was included 
in the cemetery. 

Perhaps the first structure to occupy the original Common, 
after the Meeting House, was a wooden pound, of unde- 
termined location, built for the detention of strays and other 
disturbers of the bovine peace. A pound of later date was 
moved in 1820 as far south as would bring it into line with 
the lands of Charles Jones and Nathaniel Smith. On its 
site was built, in the summer of 1824, the present incumbent; 
v/hich was to be "of the same size as the old one in the 
Clear." Of late years, the Pound and the offices connected 
with its administration have not been taken too seriously: 
choice for the Board of Field-drivers is held equivalent to a 
publication of banns; an.d superintendence of the Pound haa 
been a sinecure since the election of Almira Bonney to that 
office in 1869. 

The title to the Common seems to have been early disputed. 
In 1720 a committee of three was chosen "to inspect ye high 
wayes and common Lands whether perticular person hath 
made any Incroachments." Apparently, the bounds and ap- 
plication of the grant of 1713 continued in dispute; for it is 
further defined and confirmed by a later Proprietors' grant 
bearing date 1747: "At a meeting of the proprietors of the 



140 



o 
Si 



't; 



c^ 




THE COMMON 

common lands in the Second division of the Commons which 
belonged to the towns of Duxborrough and Pem- 
brook held in Duxborrough upon the 38th day of 
September Anno Domini 1747 the said proprietors chose Ma- 
jor Gamaliel Bradford Moderator and then .... 
Voted . . . that the commons or proprietors' lands ad- 
joining to the Meeting house in the Easterly part of the town 
of Pembrook lying between the land of Mr. Daniel Lewis, 
Isaac Tubbs, Isaac Crooker and Thomas Burton which has 
for many years past been improved, to set a Meeting house 
on, Burning place, Training jReld, high ways, and setting a 
pound on, shall lay, remain, and be for the uses afore said, 
forever and that what pieces of Commons lands of said town 
of Pembrook have exchanged, to accommodate and lay the 
same regular, be and hereby is ratified and confirmed." It 
will be noticed that neither of the grants quoted names a 
grantee or delegates control of the premises granted. The 
Proprietors of 1713 undoubtedly intended that the Town of 
Pembroke should administer the Common. But in the 
course of a century after their action, there occurred a chain 
of events which they could not possibly have foreseen. 

Until 1745, the Town in Town meeting had provided for 
the management of the Meeting House, and for the support 
of a minister. With the establishment of a west parish or 
precinct in 1746, local government underwent a marked 
change. Certain rights and charges which liad before ap- 
plied to the Town as a single parish, hencefortli concerned 
its eastern half only. In that year the First Precinct was 
separately organized, with a committee, precinct meeting, and 
headquarters in the East Meeting House. To this precinct, 
consisting of the inhabitants resident within its territorial 
limits, were transferred the duty of electing and supporting 
a minister; the control of Meeting House, Burying Ground, 
and a large part of the Common; and the right of levying 
taxes to defray necessary precinct charges. Parallel with 
the East existed the West Precinct, having its own 
minister, meeting-house, and burying ground, and levying 



141 



ANCIENT LANDMAEKS OF PEMBKOKE 

its own precinct charges. When the citizens of both pre- 
cincts met, in a town meeting, for action on matters of com- 
mon interest; by the courtesy of either precinct in turn, they 
met in its meeting-house. 

By the incorporation of Hanson in 1830, Precinct and 
TowTi became in area once more identical. But the Pre- 
cinct — of which all its inhabitants were, in theory, members; 
and as such, liable to taxation for its benefit — was, with the 
growth of rival churches in town, fast coming to include only 
those who chose to attend the First Church. All members 
of other religious societies were, in fact, exempt from taxa- 
tion for its support. One after another, various rights and 
charges in which the town as a whole was interested — such 
as the ownership of the hearse, and the duty of fencing the 
cemeteiry — were transferred from Precinct to Town : and in 
1833 the Town was charged rent for use of the Meeting 
House. That year the Church was disestablished, and lost 
its right to support by public taxation. Then, if ever, was 
the time for a final adjustment between church and state. 
The Precinct — or Parish, as it soon came to be called — 
which had lost all reason for existing, might well have been 
abolished; and its kingdom divided between the Church 
proper and the Town. No such adjustment was ever made 
and recorded. Instead, matters continued much as before. 
The Town took what the Parish chose to give it: the Church 
remained an organization for spiritual purposes only, luider 
control of its minister and deacons ; while the Parish retained 
the entire management of its temporal affairs, even to the 
election of its minister. 

So the territorial parish became a religious society: 
deprived, indeed, of its right to support by public taxation; 
but holding all property, real or personal, not expressly 
alienated to the Town. No transfer of any part of the Com- 
mon, except tlie Burying Ground, appears on either Town or 
Parish records. Accordingly, whatever title to its owner- 
ship the Parish had previously acquired, suffered no pre- 
judice by the Eleventh Amendment. 



142 



THE COMMON 

Our only positive evidence conceraing the disposition of 
the Common in 174G, and its subsequent management until 
1783, is the state of affairs revealed by the Parish records 
for 1783 and later years. In these, the earliest documents 
available, we find that on 34 March 1783 the Precinct voted 
that "the Committee procure Twenty Locas Trees and as they 
shall think proper plant them round the Meeting House at 
the Cost of said Precinct." From these twenty trees came 
doubtless the myriad of honey-locusts which now beset the 
lanes and fields of Pembroke Centre, perfuming all the air, 
and making "improvement of the Common" a motion imwel- 
come — one would think — to either Parish or Town. Soon 
after 1800, the Precinct appointed a committee of three "to 
ascQTtain the bounds of the Common :" these gentlemen exe- 
cuted, partially at least, the duty assigned them; obtaining 
from Isaac Magoun a formal cession to the Precinct of land 
now the western border of the cemetery, but leaving on record 
no further statement of their work. Having completed its 
investigation, the Parish granted all pers<ms "liberty to build 
sheds on the Common where they should be least prejuditial 
to the same," and detailed a committee to fix the locations. 
During this period, it frequently rented both Common and 
P.urying Ground: on 30 March 1807, the Precinct voted "to 
hire out that part of the common land belonging to the 
Precinct, Southw^ard of the bur^'ing ground now fenced, to 
the highest bidder, for five years . . . said land to begin 
ot the end of the fence at the southeast corner of the Burying 
Ground to a stake standing on the high ground, then to a 
stake standing twenty feet east of a certain white rock." This 
tract continued to be rented until the year 1833 ; when it 
became, perhaps, a part of the cemetery. In 1808 the Par- 
ish voted that Charles Jones might improve the yard near 
the Pound the insuing year for nothing. On 1 April 1820 
it voted "that Mr. Allen should set out trees on the common 
land Avhere he pleases." In January of 1837, it granted to 
certain proprietors liberty to erect a new meeting-house on 
or near the site of the old, with all necessary rights and 



143 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

privileges: these proprietors in 1856 surrendered to the Par- 
ish all their right, title, and interest in the Meeting House 
and lot. In 1838 the Parish chose a committee "to invite 
hands and superintend the leviling of the Commot around 
the Meeting House." In 1842 it voted "that the Parish 
Committee have care of the Parish land and superintend the 
setting out of trees around the Meeting House." In 1847 
the Committee were again given charge of the Parish land, 
and instructed "to sell gravel if they see fit." On the fifth 
of January in the year 1880, it was voted "that the Parish 
do give their consent to the Monument Association to place 
a Monument on the Common." On 4 May 1890, the Parish 
voted "that the Grand Army have the right to improve the 
grounds around the monument;" and on 8 May 1892, "that 
the improvement of the grounds in front of the Church be 
left to the Parish Committee." So much is positive ; nega- 
tive evidence of weight is afforded by the complete silence of 
our town record, from 1746 until 1905, as to the manage- 
ment of the Common. 

What was the common land mentioned in the Parish votes 
of 1820 and later years? It certainly did not include the 
whole of the original Proprietors' appropriation. By 1807, 
the Burying Ground was fenced; and in 1833 expressly re- 
tored to the Town, which since that year has had full control 
of it. The land south of the Burying Ground — 
probably a part of the lot which the Town acquired 
by exchange with Abraham Pearce — was, from 1807 
till 1833, included in the common land; I have found no 
record of its final disposition. The public highways now 
Curve, Oldham, and Centre Streets, had been early laid out; 
and were, undoubtedly, under the direction of Town survey- 
ors. Although the Town built and managed the Pound, the 
Parish seems to have controlled the yard near it; which, 
[)erhaps, included the site of the Ladies' House. But it is 
])robab]e that, by 1837, the Parish had undisputed possession 
and management of no more land than is included witliin the 
three highways just named. 



144 



THE COMMON 

In that year a new feature was added to the Common. The 
ancient schoolhouse, which must have stood as much in the 
road as anywhere, was removed to the hollow by the south 
gate of the cemetery ; and on its former site was erected in the 
summer of 1837, with funds appropriated from the Surplus 
Revenue, a new town hall. Next May the Town voted "to 
allow Morrill Allen $3 for ten years' use of the land on which 
the Town House stands belonging to Gideon Thomas White." 
In 1858 it chose a committee "to Bargain with Asaph Bos- 
worth for the site on which the Town House now stands." 
The Hall was, in its original form, a miniature House of 
Commons, with rows of seats ascending on either hand, and a 
high, balustered rostrum at the back: it was remodelled, by 
votaries of Terpsichore, about the year 1875. Not long after 
its first completion, the Selectmen submitted the following 
report: "On 28 April 1845 it was voted that the Selectmen 
cause the Towm House to be painted: by the above vote the 
Selectmen were required by their Pharaoh-like masters not 
to make bricks without straw, but a service the performance 
of which to most minds would seem equally impracticable — 
to cause the Town House to be painted without materials or 
the appropriation of funds for the purpose. It has been done 
however. . . . ." 

One important step in the improvement of the Common 
has been omitted. About the year 1860, Rev. William Bick- 
nell, minister of the First Parish, planted within its limits 
a score or two of sturdy pine saplings. No action in this 
matter is recorded on the part of either Parish or Town. 
It would seem that Mr. Biclmell proceeded as a volunteer, by 
sufferance of the legal owner. His efforts have proved fruit- 
ful of good — if in no other respect — in that they have 
lecently led to careful researches couceming the title to the 
Common, and the acquisition of valuable data bearing upon 
that point. 

So much might suffice. But our harvest from the good 
Minister's planting is not of legal chaff only. The authors 
of these researches have, incidentally, given us wherewithal 



146 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBEOKE 

to paint, if we will, a changing landscape whose first panel 
shall obsciirely show the lonesome upland pasture among the 
savins: whose last, the Comnton of our o^vn remembrance, 
devoted to uses the highest and holiest, and shadowed over by 
its whispering pines. Let us spread their colours to our 
purpose, while concerning the vexed question of title 
causidici certant, et adhuc sub judice lis est. 



146 







s 

<U 






O^ 



3 

DQ 



XIII. The Burying Ground. 




They point to the graveyard dose by the way, 
And they tell me he's heen there for many a day ; 
That the manly heart and the Wiishing maid 
Have been long in thai quiet graveyard laid. 

T was a feeling prevalent among our ancestors, 
partly inborn and partly derived from much 
reading of their Bibles, that a high place was 
likewise holy. Through all the country of New 
England, when a new village had growTi large 
enough to become independent of its neigh- 
bours, the loftiest point of land within its 
borders was songht out as a site for church and 
cemetery. So it was in Pembroke. The first 
settlers had been laid to rest either in the great 
cemetery at Duxbury or in private lots upon their own estates. 
About the time of the Town's incorporation, a meeting-house 
was erected on Highgary, the hilt of Pembroke Centre; and 
the land for some distance around became the Common: of 
this, the part nearest the church on the south was taken for 
a bur3dng ground. 

How early the first grave was inade in this plot, we have 
no means of knowing; many of the first stones have perished, 
and no doubt there were unmarked graves even earlier than 
these. The oldest date to be found among the inscriptions 
now extant, is that of the death of a child of Isaac Thomas, 
28 August 1715: but -as the mother's death also appears on 
the stone, with date 1723, it seems reasonable to suppose that 
this stone, though it represents the earliest known interment, 
is not the oldest monument, in the yard; and is of later date 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

than another which stands hard by — that of William Tubbs, 
who died 15 August 1718. He was a town charge, though not 
a pauper; his propert}'^ having been released to the Town in 
return for his support. 

There remain but few stones of date earlier than 1740, and 
these are all in the northeastern comer nearest the church. 
About the year 1730, the Town bought from Abraham 
Pearce, Junior, a lot of several acres; which, along with a 
part of the Common, went to make up the present cemetery. 
From the original God's Acre, the ranks of stones advanced 
southward and westward, down the slope toward the present 
Grand Army Hall, and out on the hill-crest as far as the 
graves of the Tracies and Salinonds. During the last years 
of the eighteenth century, a new departure was taken; and 
they crossed to the hill lying beyond the glen westward, where 
much of the modern cemetery is situated. Before 1800 most 
graves were made with foot to the east, and head to the west; 
with the purpose that, when on the Day of Judgment the 
dread trump should sound from the Fast, the whole company 
of the dead might rise from their long sleep marshalled in 
order due, and facing their great lieutenant. 

For more than a century after its establishment, the ceme- 
tery was controlled by the First Parish or Precinct of 
Pembroke. In the year 1807, we find the yard enclosed by a 
rickety wooden fence ; which seems to have required annual 
reinforcement against the attacks of wind, weather, and 
predatory cattle. In 1814 the Parish voted to procure a 
padlock for the gate near the Meeting House, and in 1815, 
''to build a pair of stairs over the board fence near the Meet- 
ing House so that the people may get over with more ease." 
Fence and stile, in 1819. made way for a stone wall, capped 
with timber; which extended along the northern and eastern 
borders, and was doubtless continued on the south and west 
by a wall of ruder construction. In 18?0 the shrewd parish- 
ioners instructed their Committee to employ some person to 
cap with timber the wall round the Burying Ground: "who 
shall receive, in compensation therefor, the rent for one year 



148 



THE BUEYING GROUND 

of said Burying Ground." Until 1824, it was their general 
practice to "wrent for keeping of sheep only" the cemetery, 
in consideration of an annual payment of three dollars more 
or less. In that year, and regularly thereafter, they refused 
to "wrent;" and Deacon White was instructed to prevent 
trespassers. 

A notice of harial equipments occurs in 1811, when the 
Precinct voted "to accept the Herse and House as Parish 
property and raise $15 for a Paul : the Key to be left with 
Mr. Allen and the Herse not to go out of the Parish except 
by order of the Committee." In 1820 the Town was given 
liberty to build a place for the Town stock of powder in the 
hearse-house, "provided the Town demnify the Parish for any 
damage occurring thereby." It would seem that the Parish 
found charge of these matters an unwelcome burden; for in 
1830, with generosity more apparent than real, it passed this 
remarkable resolution — which, like the proverbial scorpion, 
bore menace in its tail ; "Voted to transfer the Herse and 
Herse House owned by the first Precinct in Pembroke to the 
Town of Pembroke, the same to be kept in good and sufiBcient 
repair by said Town forever." 

Strange to say, the donation was unconditionally accepted. 
Encouraged by so favorable a reception of its advances, the 
Parish decided to try again ; and on the sixth of April in 
1833, voted "to see if the Town will pay to fence the Burying 
Ground as a common Burying Ground belonging to said 
Town." In response to this appeal, the Town voted just one 
laonth later "to repair and in future pay the expense of 
keeping in repair the fence inclosing the Cemetery near the 
Congregational Meeting House." 

The Cemetery was little benefited by this change of 
laasters. For nearly twenty years, the same method of 
management continued in vogue: half-hearted repairs were 
made on the enclosing fence ; parts of the yard became choked 
with briers and bushes ; and so little reverence was done the 
spot that it became a public pleasure-ground, and the young 
meai played ball there on Town Meeting Day. In 1851 a 



149 



ANCIENT LANDMAEKS OF PEMBEOKE 

better state of things was inaiiguratefl. The Town voted in 
September to buy land west and south of the Cemetery; to 
baild anew or repair its fence; "to subdue the brush and wood 
now growing in said Cemetery ;'* to set out trees of some 
kind round it; to dispose of certain lots for family burials; 
to purchase a hearse and building: and to those purposes it 
appropriated an adequate sum from the Surplus Eevenue 
Fund, in addition to the Tjadies' Fair money. 

In January following, it was voted "to remove the stone 
wall north and east of the Burving Ground and a wall built 
of the same on the west, provided the I^adies composing the 
late Fair shall build a good and sufficient Fence north and 
east of said Burying Ground with stone posts and iron rails 
or a stone fence with split stones as shall be agreed by their 
agents." From the language of these resolutions we may 
infer that the great improvement of conditions dating from 
1853, was due in its first instance to "the Ladies composing 
the late Fair." C*oncerning the details of this fair, History is 
silent, and tells us only that it was a triumphant success. A 
Fair paper was edited by the able hand of Pembroke's pion- 
eer journalist, Mrs. Nathaniel Smith; which numbered 
among its brightest jewels the following verse, composed by 
her brother, the late Luther Briggs, Junior : — 

"Sometimes, when tired of tedious application, 
T throw aside my pen for recreation. 
And idly join the seejning-busy throng. 
That course the crowded streets with haste along: 
See gay-wrought baubles brought from foreign land. 
The fair production of some skilful hand. 
In showy postures ranged by salesman's art, 
Fools and their money speedily to part: 
See haughty belles with costly trinkets hung; 
With sparkling rings each lily finger clung; 
Bedecked with raiment tinged with every hue 
From rich vermillion to more modest blue, 
Arranged with care as striving to outvie 



160 



THE BURYING GROUND 

The peacock's pride or gaudy butterfly; 
With head erect, or more affected gait, 
Wliile supercilious beaux attendant wait, 
And soft attentions offer to the fair, 
And soft remarks propound with studied care — 
Till, tired at last of vanities like these, 
I turn my thoughts to native Mattakese, 
Where 'Schoosett's' height with rugged slope as- 
cends : 
Where lilied 'North' her crooked course extends 
Through semi-deluged plains, that bear a mass 
Of beauteous wild flowers and luxurious grass; 
"WTiich, mowed and dried, some of much value hold. 
As pabulum for kine in winter's cold: 
Where 'Sebra's' groves o'erspread a varied field, 
And purple grapes in bounteous Autumn yield — 
Their spreading branches form a grateful shade 
Allien noontide heats of summer parch the glade: 
Or when stern Winter blows with rougher gale, 
Here school boy sportsmen trap the timid quail; 
Or, scorning mothers fear, with rusty gun 
And shaggy dog, for swift-winged partridge run. 
Where Nature doth these rustic scenes unfold, 
Rich pleasures centre far more prized than gold: 
There fires burn brighter; kindlier skies above, 
And old acquaintance are, and friends I love. 
Let city sparks more self-conceited grow. 
And ridiculing shafts upon me throw; 
Say 'Pembroke's set far oflF the kindred world, 
A parted fragment by some ruption hurled — 
Approached but by one solitary road. 
By mortals civilized but seldom trod.' 
Their haughty j)ride I always will defy: 
My pride is set on the Old Colony." 

Later, a number of improvements were made by private 
enterprise, in pursuance of a vote of the Town, bearing date 



151 



ANCIENT LANDMAEKS OF PEMBROKE 

1858, "to allow private persons to improve the Cemetery at 
their expense." In 1860 the Town's agent for the sale of lots 
was "authorized to expend money realized from that source, 
under direction of a Committee chosen by the proprietors of 
said lots." The Town seems to have had undisputed control of 
the premises since 1883; and we can regard only as a strange 
anomaly the following vote, passed by the First Parish in 
1874: "A^oted that the Association formed for the purpose of 
making improvements in the old Burying Ground be allowed 
to improve said old Burying Ground as they shall think best." 

Owing to the exertions of the Reverend William Bicknell, 
minister of Pembroke from 1857 till 1861, the older portionfl 
of the cemetery were in those years given much attention, 
the slopes about the central glen graded and terraced, and 
pine trees planted in the arid soil. With the great access 
of interest dating from the institution of Memorial Day, the 
grounds have continued to improve in appearance. The 
graves of Civil War veterans have been marked, and kept 
fresh with flowers every spring; private enterprise has set in 
order the several lots; and yearly the yard is mowed and 
trimmed at public charge. It seems likely that those of the 
older stones which natural decay and Vandalism have left us, 
will continue legible and unbroken a long time yet. 

It may prove interesting, for one reason or another, to 
quote a few of the nine hundred and fifty extant inscriptions. 
That of oldest date is the epitaph of a child of Isaac Thomas, 
buried beside her mother in a grave marked by a low, splin- 
tered, crumbling stone : 

HERE LYES YE BODY OF MRS ANN THOMAS 

WIFE TO MR ISAAC THOMAS GENT SHE DYED 

MARCH YE 1 DAY 1722-3 AETATIS 33 YEARS 3 

MONTHS 

ANN THOMAS DYED AUGUST YE 28 DAY 1715 

AGED 3 MONTHS & 6 DAYS 

MARY THOMAS DTED OCTBR YE 13 DAY 1716 

AGED 2 MONTHS & DAYS 

CHILDREN OF ISAAC AND ANN THOMAS 



158 



THE BUEYING GROUND 

The next oldest known grave is marked by a stone — prob- 
ably the oldest in the yard — yet more splintered and 
crumbling; and lies not far from the other, near the Alien 
monument. It is that of William Tubbs, a town charge, who 
died 15 August, 1718, aged sixty-three years. 

Near by is the grave of Isaac Thomas himself: 

HIC lACET YE INTERRED BODY OF LEFTENAT 
ISAAC THOMAS GENT WHO DYED MARCH YE 
16TH DAY 1731 AGED 49 YEARS AND THREE 
BABES BY ABIGIL HIS LAST WIPE 

MRS. SARAH GUSHING YE UERTUOUS CON- 
SORT OF CAPTN NEHEMIAH GUSHING DIED 
JULY YE 6TH 1749 IN HAR GIST YEAR. 
YE ME BEHOLD I AM MOLDERJNG JNTO DUST 
AS I AM NOW SO SERTAINLY YOU MUST 
WHEN THIS YOU SEE REMEMBER ME 
FOR I AM IN ETERNYTE 

HERE LIES BURIED YE BODY OF YE REVD 
DANIEL LEWIS ORDIANED PASTER OF YE 
FIRST CHRUCH IN PEMBROKE DECEM YE 3: 
1712 WHO DEPTD THIS LIFE JUNE YE 29: 1753 
AETAT 68 YE MEMORY OF THE lUST IS 
PRECIOUS 

IN MEMORY OF ASQUIR DANIEL LEWIS HE 
DIED JUNE YE 26TH 1759 IN YE 45TH YEAR 
OF HIS AGE 

ERECTED IN MEMORY OF MR AARON SON TO 
MR AARON SOULE WHO DIED JULY YE 23: 
1768 AGED 18 YEARS 7 MONTHS & 13 DAYS 
BUT E'ER MY RACE IS RUN IN STRENGTH 

AT GOD'S COMMAND DECAYS 
HE HAS WHEN ALL MY WISHES BLOOMD 
CUT SHORT MY HOPEFULL DAYS 



168 



ANCIENT LANDMAEKS OF PEMBROKE 

HEEE LYES YE INTERRED BODY OF THE 
HONOURABLE ISAAC LITTEL ESQIR DYED 
FEBRUARY YE 2D 1758 JN YE 80TH YEAR OF 
HIS AGE 

ERECTED IN MEMORY OF MISS REBEKAH 
DAUTR OF MR AARON SOULE WHO DYED 
MARCH YE 17TH 1783 AGED 48 YEARS 
TOUCHED WITH A SYMPATHY WITHIN 

HE KNOWS OUR FEEBLE FRAME 
HE KNOWS WHAT SORE CONTENTIONS MEAN 
FOR HE HAS FELT THE SAME 

ERECTED IN MEMORY OF THE RE YD THOMAS 
SMITH PASTOR OF THE FIRST CHURCH OF 
CHRIST IN PEiMBROKE IfE DIED JULY 7: 1788 
IN HIS 83RD YEAR 

ERECTED IN MEMORY OF THE HON. JOSIAH 

SMITH ESQ LATE MEMBER OF THE CONGRESS 

OF THE UNITED STATES WHO DIED APRIL 4: 

1803 AGED 66 YE ARES 

TO THEE EACH SOUL THE WARM OBLATION PAYS 

WITH TREMBLING ARDOUR OF U>v EQUAL PRAISE 

AS THROUGH THIS THORNY VALE OF LIFE WE 

RUN 
GREAT CAUSE OF ALL EFFECTS THY WILL BE 
DONE 

HERE LYES THE REMAINS OF MRS MARY 
DUNSTER RELICT OF THE REVD ISAIAH 
DUNSTER OF HARWICH SHE DIED DECEM- 
BER 23 : 1796 IN HAR 62 YEAR 

SHE THRO LIFE WITH EQUAL ARDOUR STROVE 

TO TASTE THE SWEETS OF FRIENDSHIP AND OF 
LOVE 

WITH MUTUAL WARMTH UNWELCOME CARES 
BEGUILD 

AND WEPT TOGETHER AND TOGETHER SMILD 



164 



THE BURYING GROUND 

THE ENTERRD REMAINS OP MR JEREMIAH YE 
SON OF DOCTR JEREMFAH HALL TIE DIED YE 
4 OF JANUARY 177G IN YE 17THE YEAR OF HIS 
AGE IN THE SERVICE OF HIS COUNTRY OP- 
POSEING THE TYRANNY OF BRITAIN AND 
BRITAIN'S TYRANT 

IN MEMORY OF DR. JEREMIAH HALL WHO 
DIED OCTOBER YE 1ST 1807 AGED 85 YEARS 
IN THE COLD MANSION OF THE SILENT TOMB 
HOW STILL THE SOIJTUDE HOW DEEP THE 

GLOOM 
HERE SLEEPS THE DUST UNCONSCIOUS CLOSE 

CONFIND 
BUT FAR FAR DISTANT DWELLS THE IMMORTAL 
MIND 

IN MEMORY OF MRS SARAH WHO DIED DECBR 
18: 1792 AGED 34 YEARS AND MRS LYDIA WHO 
DIED JANRY 7: 1824 AGED 63 YEARS WIVES 
OF DEACN GIDEON T WHITE 
THOUGH VALUED FRIENDS IN DEATH REPOSE 

THE AGED AND THE YOUNG 
THE WATCHFUL EYES Ix\^ DARKNESS CLOSD 
AND MUTE TH' INSTRUCTIVE TONGUE 
YET OUR ALMIGHTY FRIEND SURVIVES 

NEW COMFORT TO IMPART 
HIS PROMISED PRESENCE TOO REVIVES 
AND ANIMATES THE HEART 

IN MEMORY OF MISS RUTH CHAPMAN DAUGH- 
TER OF MR. JOHN CHAPMAN WHO DIED JULY 
12TH 1793 IN HER 27 YEAR 
BENEATH THIS STONE IN SACRED SLEEP 

THE REMAINS OF RUTH LIES 
WHOSE CHARACTER WILL BEST APPEAR 
WHEN SHE AGAIN SHALL RISE 



155 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBEOKE 

MEMENTO MORI: HERR LYE YE REMAINS OF 
CAPT THOMAS TURNER WHO DIED JANRY YE 
26 DAY 1795 IN THE 83 YEAR OF HIS AGE 
AN HONEST MAN'S THE NOBLEST WORK OF GOD 

IN MEMORY OF MISS ABIGAIL JOSSELYN 
DAUGHTER OF MR. HENRY JOSSELYN WHO 
DIED MARCH 5 : 1806 AGED 36 YEARS 
A SOUL PREPARED NEEDS NO DELAYS 
T]IE SUMMONS COMES THE SAINT OBEYS 
SWIFT WAS HER FLIGHT & SHORT THE ROAD 
SHE CLOSD HER EYES AND SAW HER GOD 

ERECTED IN MEMORY OF MR ADAM FOORD 
WHO WAS BORN IN PEMBROKE NOVR 8THE 
OLD STILE 1723 AND DIED WORN OUT WITH 
AGE JUNE UTH 1802 AGED 78 YEARS 
OUR AGE TO SEVENTY YEARS IS SET 
HOW SHORT THE TERM HOW FRAIL THE STATE ! 
AND IF TO EIGHTY WE ARRIVE 
WE RATHER SIGH AND GROAN THAN LIVE 

IN MEMORY OF MRS DEBORAH WIFE TO MR 
ISAAC DRAKE WITH HER INFANT SON ON 
HER ARM WHO DIED OCTOBER 23 : 1800 AGED 
21 YEARS 
YE MIDDI-E AGE COME HEAR MY DOOM 
MY MORNING SUN HAS SUNK AT NOON 
SURVIVING FRIENDS DONT MOURN FOR ME 
MY SOUL IS IN ETERNITY 

I WAS BROUGHT FORTH INTO A WORLD OF PAIN 
BUT IN SHORT TIME WAS CALLED BACK AGAIN 
TO SLEEP WITH HER WHO GAVE ME BIRTH AT 

FIRST 
AND IN MY MOTHER'S ARMS RETURN TO DUST 



166 



THE BURYING GROUND 

IN MEMORY OF MISS UEBBY LITTLE WHO 
DIED IN ROCHESTER NOVR 7: 1819 AGED 20 
YEARS 

DEATH THE DREAD SOVREIGN OF THE HUMAN 
RACE 

ALLOTS HIS SUBJECTS EACH THEIR DWELLING 
PLACE 

NOR AGE NOR VIRTIfE NOR ALL EARTHLY 
CHARMS 

CAN FIND A REFIFGE FROM THE TYRANT'S ARMS 

THO FRIENDS ARE ABSENT YET THEYRE LEFT 
TO MOURN 

THE LOVELY CION FROM THEIR BOSOM TORN 

BUT STILL THE CHEERING PROMISE THEY RE- 
TAIN 

THAT FRIENDS THO SEYERD ONCE SHALL MEET 
AGAIN 

NATHANIEL SON TO Mil CHARLES LITTLE 
DIED OCTBR 1 : 1804 IN HIS 3RD YEAR 
SO FADES THE LOVELY BLOOMING FLOAVR 
FRAIL SMILING SOLACE OF AN HOUR 
SO SWIFT OUR TRANSIENT COMFORTS FLY 
AND PLEASURE ONTLY BLOOMS TO DIE 

IN MEMORY OF MR WILLIAM GUSHING WHO 
DIED JANRY 4: 1825 AGED 74 YEARS 
BE LIKE A CENTINEL KEEP ON YOUR GUARD 
ALL EYE ALL EAR ALL EXPECTATION OF THE 
COMING FOE 

MRS RUTH WIFE TO HORACE HALL DIP:D 

JULY 20: 1838 AETATIS 32 YEARS 
NO MORE FATIGUE NO MORE DISTRESS 
NOR SIN NOR DEATH SHALL REACH THE PLACE 
NOR GROANS SHALL MINGLE WITH THE SONGS 
THAT WARBLE FROM IMMORTAL TONGUES 



157 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

IN MEMORY OF MR SENECA LORING WHO 
DIED IN PEMBROKE MAY 25TH 1847 AETATIS 
61 
WHAT THO WE WADE IN WEALTH 

OR SOAR IN FAME 
EARTH'S HIGHEST STATION ENDS IN 
HERE HE LIES 
AND DUST TO DlfST 
CONCLUDES HER NOBLEST SONG 

EDWARD BATES DFED JIiLY 10: 1861 AGED 83 
YEARS 
I WOULD NOT HAVE PROUD MARBLE PILED 

ABOVE MY GRASSY BED 
ONE SIMPLE STONE TO MARK THE SPOT 
AND ONE TO WEEP ME DEAD 

IN MEMORY OF MELICENT DAUGHTER OF 
MR MATTHEW PARRIS WHO WAS DROWNED 
FEBRY 5THE 1795 IN THE 13THE YEAR OF HER 
AGE MANY ARE THE SHAPES OF DEATH 
MANY THE WAYS THAT LEAD TO HIS GRIM 
CAVE ALL DREADFUL 

IN MEMORY OF MISS SUSANNA JACOB SHE 
DIED JANRY YE 1ST 1794 IN HER 63D YEAR 
THO UNESPOUSED IN EARTH WE LY 
YET IF ESPOUSED TO CHRIST WE DIE 
NO MORTAI; JOYS COULD ORE COMPARE 
THE FINISHED JOYS THAT CENTERS THERE 
IN GLORY CHRIST UNITES THE JUST 
THO DISTANT GRAVE DR^DE THE DUST 

A copy was made, several years ago, of all the then extant 
inscriptioTis; this can be consulted, through the Town Clerk, 
by persons wishing to discover any particular stone. 

There are in the old burying-ground many graves of Rev- 



158 



THE BUEYING GROUND 

olutionary soldiers, now lying witliont mark or distinction of 
any kind. In neighboring towns such graves have received 
ihe notice due thern, and a bronze marker there shows the 
resting-place of each veteran of the War for Independence. 
At small expense, similar markers might be placed in all our 
cemeteries; where now only graves of Civil War veterans are 
so designated. This duty rend)roke has yet to fulfil. 

"Go to yonder church-yard," said Doctor Francis 
Collamore, "and read history there." God's Acre is the last 
earthly dwelling of all our neighbours and friends. Each 
season brings it a riclier harvest of them from the highways 
and by-ways of the town. A year is not now past since it 
took into its bosom the body of him that had been its lifelong 
caretaker. One saying is often heard from the lips of aged 
people: "More of my friends are in the Burying Ground 
than are left outside." Although we may never come to 
esteem a walk through its winding paths and grass-grown 
avenues — in the words of Judge Sevvall — "an awfull yet 
pleasing Treat;" the sight of its memorials to our dear and 
honoured friends may remind us more of what was gained 
in their lives than of what was lost in their deaths, and bring 
us out from the gateway feeling that we have been compassed 
about with a great cloud of witnesses. 

"We tread the paths their feet have worn, 
We sit beneath their orchard trees, 
We hear, like them, the hum of bees 

And rustle of the bladed corn ; 

We turn the pages that they read, 

Their Avritten words we linger o'er. 

But in the sun they cast no shade, 

No voice is heard, no sign is made, 
No step is on the conscious floor ! 

Yet Love will dream, and Faith will trust, 

(Since He who knows our need is just,) 

That somehow, somewhere, meet we must. 

Alas for him who never sees 

The stars shine through his cypress-trees! 



169 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

Who, hopeless, lays his dead away. 
Nor looks to see the breaking day 
Across the mournful marbles play ! 
WTio hath not learned, in hours of faith, 

The truth to flesh and sense unknown, 
That Life is ever lord of Death. 

And Love can never lose its own I" 



160 




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Hemx) Baker 
1827- 1907 



The Town Clock and Its 
Neighbors. 




In the market-place of Bruges stands the belfry old and 

brown; 
Thrice consumed and thrice rehnilded, still it watches o'er 

the town. 

VERY year sees the passing of some old and 
obsolete custom. Time was when the Bell 
performed a real service for tlie village by 
advertising the hour of a public meeting. 
Clocks and watches are general now, and every 
man lives thereby a law unto himself: and at 
the present day, there are not wanting persons 
to terra the Bell and all its works a relic of the 
Middle Ages; which ought long since to have 
gone the way of conch and drum, their prede- 
cessors. Some of us may live to see the sonorous tongue put 
to silence; and the belfry become a haunt of proverbial bats 
and owls, and the ghosts of the ancient bell-ringers. Let us 
hope that the fine old custom will never be done away with; 
that in Pembroke we may still hear, across the quiet valleys, 
her sexton 

"Einging the village bell 
When the evening sun is low." 
It was the belfry of the second Meeting House that Isaac 
Thomas agreed to "'Cullor" with Spanish bro\\Ti and oil. In 
1763 that Meeting House boasted a "Spier," on the square 
part of which a "Walk" existed. This structure was, 
doubtless, provided with a bell; for in 1793 — while it was 
still standing, although in a ruinous condition — the Parish 



ANCIENT LANDMAEKS OF PEMBROKE 

voted "to build a porch or tower at one end of the Meeting 
House sufficient to fix or hang a hell on with a Capola to the 
Same." The vote was speedily rescinded. From 1792 on, 
the Parish seriousl}' considered removing the steeple; it was 
finally taken down in the spring of 1805. It was not replaced 
until the building of the present Meeting House; which in 
its large square belfry — the highest eminence in town — re- 
ceived the new bell. Wliile ringing for a fire in Marshfield 
woods, during the summer of 1839, this was badly cracked' 
and accordingly, made room for another. The old bell, Mr. 
Baker once told me, rang just on A; its successor falling a 
little flat. 

Early in 1838, the Town — acting on the article "To see if 
the Town will pny a stipulated sum for having the Bell rung 
for public meetings and tolled for deaths and at the burial 
of all persons in town when information shall be given and 
the service required" — voted to pay a sum not exceeding $20 
in each year for ringing and tolling the bell. Notice of a 
death was regularly given at sunrise following its occurrence. 
Every such notice had three divisions : attention was attracted 
by a succession of slow, measured strokes ; after a long pause, 
three strokes, twice three, or thrice three sounded, according 
as the deceased were child, woman, or man; last of all was 
rung the age. The practice of tolling, once universal, 
gradually fell out of favour ; and has long since been discon- 
tinued. I do not myself remember ever hearing the bell rung 
for any occasion other than a fire, or a meeting of citizens. 
The old way of paying public tribute to friends and neigh- 
bours lost from the village, was a good one; and ought to be 
restored. 

With the bell came the Town Clock. According to a 
tradition which has never been contradicted, this was presen- 
ted to the Town by the Peverend Morrill Allen, on condition 
that they keep it in repair. It was the work of Aaron Willard 
of Boston: and though badly shaken up in 1893, still gives 
its neighbors the standard time; thanks to the skill and 
devotion of its late caretaker. The stroke of lightning which. 



162 



THE TOWN CLOCK AND ITS NEIGHBORS 

on the eighth of April in that year, rent the belfry, scattered 
the venterable Town Clock to all the winds of heaven. At 
first repair was thought unadvisable, or even impossible. By 
the request of Mr. (xeorge Allen of Scituate, who wished his 
grandfather's gift perpetuated, Mr. Baker was induced to 
attempt a reconstruction — for his work amounted to that. A 
large number of pieces taken as souvenirs had to be called 
in : it is said that some parts of the dial were found in 
Bridgewater The expense of this repair was generously borne 
by Mr. Allen. 

The first outlay made by the Town on its Clock was voted 
in 1852 : the report of the ''Commissioner to improve the 
Town Clock," dated 1854, names a bill of $24.51 ; which was 
allowed. The charge for running the Clock was, until 1854, 
paid by the First Parish, in whose Meeting House it stood. 
In that year the Parish voted "that Nathan Simmons take 
care of the Meeting House, Clock, Bell &c. for five dollars 
in addition to twenty that the Town pay." Since then, the 
Town has regularly borne the expense of running, as well as 
of repair. Until 1862. the Parish annually chose the care- 
taker. In 1861 occurs the last record of such choice. But 
it is probable that the Parish continued to act as the Town's 
agent in this matter, and that sextonship of the Church was 
understood to include care of the Clock ; until the long tenure 
by Mr. Baker of several offices, had quite obscured the dis- 
tinction between them. From 1878 till 1907. he was annually 
elected sexton by the Town, and had charge of the Town 
Clock. He held no other office continuously during that time, 
and was never expressly elected or appointed to the caretaker- 
ship. From these facts it is inferred that he ran the Clock 
as town sexton. 

The last chapter of the Clock's history has proved to be of 
permanent interest, and finds its place here. Mr. Baker's 
death occurred 7 June, 1907. The Selectmen, on whom 
devolved the duty of appointing his successor, questioned not 
only his status as a town officer, but also the Town's owner- 
ship of the Clock. Towns are not expressly im powered to 



163 



ANCIENT LANDMAEKS OF PEMBROKE 

(,'hoose a sexton, nor are tlie duties of such an officer 
prescribed by law. In the absence of any agreement to the 
contrary, the attachment of the Clock to the Meeting House 
had caused it to become a part of the realty, and, therefore, 
property of the First Parish. Since that society did not press 
its claim, a waiver was prepared, and by the Parish ordered 
to be signed by their Committee: together with grants of a 
right of location and a right of entiy to the premises leased. 
These instruments were, on Au2;ust tenth, executed and 
delivered to the Selectmen ; who appointed Mr. Frank G. 
Crafts to succeed Mr. Baker as caretaker of the Town Clock. 
The Selectmen incurred much adverse criticism through their 
delay in getting the Clock started: it is but just that the 
Town recognize the decisive results obtained by their in- 
vestigation of its title. 

In a paper concerned witli time-keepers, a statement of 
certain differences between the old and tlie new methods — 
or "styles" — of reckoning time, may not be out of ordei. 
England, always conservative, was far slower than the 
Continent in adopting Gregory's calendar; and her practice 
was followed throughout her American colonies. Until 1752, 
their calendar was not only eleven full days behind the solar 
year, but also preserved the ancient practice of beginning the 
legal year on 25 March. 

Since the year was popularly held to begin on 1 January, 
there was in use a system of "double-dating:" which affixed 
to every day from 1 January to 24 March inclusive the signs 
of both the immediately preceding popular, and the imme- 
diately siicceeding legal years. Old Style was abolished in 

1751. The legal year 1752 was the first to begin on 
1 January: and the day immediately following 2 September, 

1752, was reckoned as the fourteenth. The incorporation of 
Pembroke occuri-ed on the twenty-first of March, Old Style ; 
or on the first of April, New Style: in the year 1711-1712, 
being the legal year 1711, and the popular year 1712. 

A difference in practice equally apt to cause confusion, is 
that which existed Avith regard to the currency of Massachu- 



164 



THE TOWN CLOCK AND ITS NEIGHBOES 

setts during the eighteenth century. "Before 1750 there was 
no legal tender. The New England Shilling of the 
seventeenth century had been on a par with the sterling; the 
celebrated Willow, Oak, and Pine-tree Shillings — coined by 
Massachusetts in 1G52, and for thirty years after — had been 
set at a value equal to eighteen cents of our money: all these 
issues were still current as money of commerce, not to speak 
of miscellaneous bills of credit emitted by the Province. In 
1702 the General Court appointed a definite form in which 
sach bills should be issued : 

"No. 20 sh. 

'J'his indented bill of twenty shillings, due from the province 
of the Massachusetts Bay. in New England, to the possessor 
thereof, shall be in value equal to money ; and shall be 
accordingly accepted by the treasurer and receivers subordin- 
ate to him, in all publick payments, and for any stock at any 
time in the treasury. 

By order of the Great and General Court." 
The bills were used for payment of Province debts, and 
afforded a means of anticipating taxes very liable to abuse. 
Every issue of bills ought to have been supported by a tax of 
eaual amount. From their first emission in 1690 — on the 
occasion of Phips's expedition to Canada — until 1704, the 
bills were promptly so redeemed. Beginning with that year, 
the Court often yielded to temptation, and made its issue 
larger than its tax; with the result that the credit of the 
Province became impaired, and its bills depreciated in value. 
Their general form, or ''tenour," also — especially the guaran- 
tee, which made the bill "in value equal to money" — proved 
far too indefinite; and was eventually superseded by another, 
in pursuance of an act passed 4 February 1736-7: 

"Twenty Shillings . Twenty Shillings 

This bill of twenty shillings, due from the province of 
Massachusetts Bay, in New England, to the possessor thereof, 
shall be in value equal to three ounces of coined silver, Troy 
weight, of sterling alloy, or gold coin at the rate of four 
pounds eighteen shillings per ounce ; and shall be accordingly 



165 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBEOKE 

accepted by the treasurer and receivers subordinate to him in 

all payments, and for any stock at any time in the 

treasury. 

By order of the Great and General Court." 
By this act, all bills of the earlier form became Old Tenour. 
Of the New Tenour, £9000 was issued at once, in notes of 
denominations ranging from tenpence to forty shillings ; and 
to float this issue, a tax of equal amount was levied. Some 
of the quotas follow: 

Abington 19: 13: 

Boston 1620: 0: 

Bridgewater 101 : 6 : 6 

Duxbury 33 : 2 : 3 

Halifax 19 : 2 : 6 

Hanover 28: 3: 3 

Marshfield 61: 18: 3 

Middleboro 69 : 14 : 3 

Pembroke 33 : 2 : 3 

Plymouth 87: 9: 

Plympton 39 : G : 
The tax was payable: in bills of the new tenour; or of the 
old tenour, in the proportion of three to one; or in coined 
silver, at 6 : 8 per ounce; or in gold coin, at £4:18 per ounce; 
or in hemp, at fourpence the pound ; or in flax, at sixpence. 
Five years later, the legislature again sought to steady the 
currency, by establishing still another form of bill ; which 
varied from the last only in the clause "and shall be so 
accepted in all paym-ents, and in the treasury." This form 
accordingly became New Tenour: the earlier forms were nov^ 
Old and Middle Tenours. The value of money, however, 
continued to fluctuate until, in January of 1748-9, a standard 
or legal tender was fixed ; of which six shillings and eight 
pence were equal to one ounce of silver. It was ordered that 
all contracts made after 31 March, 1750, should be understood 
as if made in lawful money. The Tenours, however, remained 
current during some years after 1750; for in 1752 there was 
out, of the Old, Middle, and New Tenours, £4756, £2131, and 
£49729, respectively. 

166 



THE TOWN CLOCK AND ITS NEIGHBOES 

An approximate statement of the value of current money 
during the period 1700-J750 may prove useful. From 1702 
until 4 February 1736-7, the depreciation of the Old Tenour 
went on unregulated by law. From 4 Feb. 1736-7 until 15 
Jan. 1741-2, its legal value was one third that of the New, 
which was then at par. Froui In Jan. 1741-2 until 26 Jan. 
1748-9, its legal value was one fourth that of the New; one 
pound of which, during that period, equalled £1 :6 :8 of the 
former New or Middle. After 26 Jan. 1748-1), six shillings 
of lawful money were legally equivalent to forty-five of rhp 
Old Tenour. or to eleven and sixpence of the New or of the 
Middle. 

The fluctuation in the actual purchasing power of Old 
Tenour, is estiutated by the following table — derived fron. 
Aaron Hobart's History of Abingfon; which purports to give, 
for each year mentioned, the value in bills of an ounce of 
silver: 1702—63 lOd; 1705- -Ts; 1713— 8s; 1716— 9s; 1717 
—12s; 1722— 14s; 1728— ISs: 1730—203; 1737— 26s; 174i 
—28s; 1749—608. 

All the Tenours were, like sterling money, reckoned in 
pounds, shillings, and pence ; but with a standard so low that, 
their shilling, when at par, was worth little more than nine 
petnce sterling. Tt was the sixth part of a Spanish milled 
dollar or "piece of eight," and equivalent to nearly seventeen 
cents of our jnoney. Sterling was also current; its shilling 
was then worth about twenty-two and one half cents. Span- 
ish coins were still more common than English ; the principal 
was the famous Pillar Dollar, or "piece of eight," worth two 
or three cents more than our dollar. 

The standard of 1749 continued in force throughout the 
Eevolution. Credit declined with the progress of the war, 
and the large issues by Congress and the General Court of 
notes which they seemed unlikely ever to redeem. From the 
Town records we learn that in 1780 one silver dollar was 
worth eighty in paper: that in 1781 a silver pound was 
equivalent to 2,50 -'old emission dollars;" and that in 1782 
the Town instructed its collectors to refuse paper altogether. 



167 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

After the close of the war, and the consequent return of credit, 
came the coinage of the Anieviean dollar in 1794. Its value 
was a little below that of the Spanish dollar, which had long 
been the medium of Western commerce : New England con- 
tinued to reckon her shilling as one sixth of a dollar, or 16 
2-3 cents. The New York shilling of 12 1-2 cents, our 
ninepence, became current here after 1800 ; and seems to have 
been in some places not less generally used than the native 
fraction. 

Since this paper has already stra3^ed so far from its subject, 
I may be forgiven if 1 conclude it with an extract from the 
Town Record which illustrates some of the foregoing state- 
ments, and gives us a glimpse at the grey side of village life 
in Revolutionary days, with all its bargaining and dickering 
and stri\dng to make one dollar do the work of eighty. It 
purports to be a schedule of prices taking effect early in the 
}ear 1777:— 

"The following are the Prices of articles agreed upon by 
the Selectmen and the Committee and Recorded By Order of 
the General Court — 

Good Wheat at 7s a Bushill 

good Grass fed Beef at 2%d a Pound 

good oak wood Delivered at the Buyers door to the North- 
ward and Eastward of a Line from Lemuel Little's to ye 
Widow Delanoes as the Road goes at 10s a Cord 

gc'd oak Wood Delivered at the Buyers Door to the South- 
ward and Weslvvard of the afore Said Line at 8s 

good oak Cole Delivered at the Works at 14s 8d a Lood 

good Charcole Commonly used By Blacksmiths at 13s 4d 
a Lood 

good all Wocl Cloath % wide of the Best Quality Well 
Dressed at 98 4d a yard and so in proportion for a nar- 
rower width and Meaner Quality 

Veal Mutton and Lamb at Sy^d a Pound 

Horse Kee]ung a Night or Twenty-four hours on English 
hay at Is a night 

a Dinner on a Boyld Dish one Shilling on Boyld and 
Posted Is 2d a Breckfast 8d 

168 



THE TOWN CLOCK AND ITS NEIGHBORS 

a Supper 8d a nights Lodging 3i/^d 

a Potte of Oats Si/gd 

a Mug of Phlip or Toddey made with new england Rum 
9d made with west india Rum Is 

Cyder By the Barril at the Press at 7s 

Mens Shoes made of good neats Leather at 7s 6d 

Womans Shoes 5s 8d and other Slioes in proportion ac- 
cording to their Size 

Making Men Shoes at 2s 6d and woman Shoes the Same 
the Shoemaker finding heals 

May June July August and September 3s a day for mens 
Labour and found as usual : October March and april at 28 
Gd and found as usual : nour. Decmr. Janur. and febr. at 
2s and found as usual : and in the usual proportion for trads- 
men. 

for Shewing a horse Plane 4s and if the Toes and Corks are 
Steele 68 

a Syth and narrow ax 8s each and other Smitliing in the 
usual proportion 

a good yoak of oxen 2s 4d a day 

a good new ground Plow at 2s 8d a day and other Plows 
iji proportion 

a good Cart and Wlieels at Is 8d 

Weaving all wool Cloath five Quarters Wide at 8d a yard 
and other Cloathe in proportion 

Horse Hire By the mile 3d Single Bubble or otherwise: 
Looded Equal to Bubble 6d a mil. 

good Marchantable White Pine Bords at the mill 42s 8d a 
Thousand and other Bords in Proportion 

good marchantable Cedejr Shingle or White Pine Without 
Sap at 158 8d a Thousand and in Proportion fer other 
Shingle 

good English hay of the Best Quality at 2s 6d a hundred 
and So in Proportion for a meaner Sort 

good Fresh hay of the Best Quality Wliere it Can Be Come 
at With a Team at 28s a Ton and So in Proportion for a 
Meianer Sort 



169 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

for Summering a Cow well at 248 and So in Proportion for 
other Cattle 

and for horse Keeping in the Summer By Grass at 2 shil- 
ling a week and for keeping a horse a night or 24 hours By 
Grass 7d 

fer Bording a man a week 6s 8d 

for fulling Dying Shearing and Pressing a Clarret or Lon- 
don Brown Colour Is 6d a Yard 

fer fulling Shearing and Pressing mixt Cloath 8d a yard 

for fulling and Cording of Blanketing at 4d 

fer Pressing worsted or worsted and wool Cloath at two 
Pence one farthing a yard and all other Cloath in the usual 
Proportion" 



170 



XV. The First Church in 
Pembroke. 




Cecinit quae prima futuros 
Aeneadas magnos, et nobile Pallanteum. 

BLEAK and arid moorland, barren save for 
brown poverty-grass and a growth of hardy 
savins deriving meagre support from the poor 
soil and stormbeaten air — until the year 1700, 
such was the site now known as Pembroke 
Centre. Commanding a wide view of fertile 
slopes and pleasant valleys where small home- 
steads were already beginning, it rose above 
these itself unpopulated, and unbroken by the 
settler's plough. Its southern extremity was 
the property of Abraham Pearee, Junior; on the north Isaac 
Barker held a large estate; and the central summit, with its 
approaches, remained still a part of the common or imdivided 
lands of Duxbury. 

Not many years after 1700, the village of Mattakeesett 
had grown large enough to become a parish by itself. The 
hardships of a weekly journey through the woods to Duxbury 
meeting-house, were great; and it was thought best in some 
degree to separate from the parent church. In 1708 a small 
building was constructed — we are told — near Sabbaday 
Orchard, home of Huguenot legend: it was raised on June 
8, and within its walls thenceforth the little company met 
for weekly service. Apparently this building was moved 
before 1712 to the site of the present church, for on the 
earliest records we find evidence that its location was there. 



THE FIRST CHUECH IN PEMBROKE 

Of so much onh'- can we be certain, that before 1712 there 
was a building near that site, used by the inhabitants of 
Upper Duxbury as a Meeting House. 

Pembroke became a township early in 1712; and on the 
tv/enty-second of October in that year, the First Church was 
formally organized. The new parish — rulers of the area now 
Pembroke and Hanson: excepting Scituate Two-mile; the 
Marches next Abingion, Halifax, and Bridgewater; and a 
narrow gore on the west bank of Indian Head River, then 
part of Scituate — looked about them for a minister to settle 
over their rude meeting-house and scanty congregation. 
Their choice fell on the Reverend Daniel Lewis of Hingham, 
a graduate of Harvard, and — as nearly as can be learned — a 
typical old-style minister. Mr. Lewis was ordained 3 
December 1712. The town granted him a homestead just 
north of the church, near the site of the present sheds; and 
here he lived throughout his long ministry of over forty years. 
His wife was Elizabeth Hawke, a native of Hingham, and 
aunt of Governor Hancock: they had several children; of 
whom Elizabeth married the Reverend John Howland of 
IMyrapton, and Daniel, Esquire, was a magistrate in colonial 
days. 

Under Mr. Lewis' ministry the parish prospered: the 
church was enlarged in 1717 to accommodate the Indians, 
and new pews M^ere constantly building. Eleven years after 
his ordination, the society voted to build a new meeting-house ; 
but plans and proposals were first entertained in 1726. On 
the twenty-sixth of December, the Towm chose a committee of 
four to let out the building of a meeting-house which should 
be "forty by fifty, and twenty-two foot stud:" the contract 
Avas given to Isaac Thomas; who, for £600, undertook to 
perform the work faithfully according to specifications, and 
"cullor the square part of the Belfry and Cannopy with 
Spanish BroAvn and Oyl." Next year the structure was 
ready for occupation, and the old church was sold for what 
it would fetch : the frame is still to be seen, in good preserva- 
tion, on the homestead of Mr. Henry Bosworth in Pembroke 



172 



THE FIRST CHURCH IN PEMBROKE 

Centre. An affidaWt of Daniel Lewis, made in 1737, tells us 
that "Pembroke Meeting House was raised 21-22 Jime 1727." 
Unfortmiately the good minister omits details: and accord- 
ingly, has failed to specify for our benefit the quantity of 
rum provided for that operation; wliich, in conformity with 
the usage of those days, was doubtless large. 

A greater misfortune is the mutilation of a page in the 
earliest Town book, containing records of a meeting held ten 
days before the raising to decide the location of the new stnic- 
ture. The site actually chosen was identical with, or very 
near, the former site. This was in a central position on the 
Common ; surroimded by associations always dear, and begin- 
ning to be time-honoured. As early as 1715, and no doubt 
for some years before that, the present cemeteiy had been 
used as a burying ground by the villagers. He|re on the 
south lay the graves of their fathers; the parsonage on the 
north already had a history ; somewhere in the neighborhood 
was the wooden Pound, to which came every owner of stray 
swine, sheep, horses, or cattle to buy at a price their liberty; 
and the highways leading to the earlier meeting house had 
been laid out with considerable care and expense. The ap- 
proach on the north was a lane coming from the home of the 
Honourable Isaac Little: on the east, a highway led toward 
the houses of Abraham Pearce and Elisha Bisbee, Esquire, 
and the Barker estates: southward, the road ran past 
Thomas Burton's to Indian Bridge between Monument and 
Furnace ponds: going west, you came to the homestead of 
James Bonney; and farther on, through the woods, to the 
Thomas manor in Hanson — then an outlying district of 
Namassakeesett. 

The new building little resembled a modern church ; if we 
are to judge by the records, and a picture preserved in th« 
Smith Memorial. It was a roomy two-story hall, sur- 
mounted by a low belfry or canopy. There were thirteen 
windows in front, and ten on either end : the front door, fac- 
ing the south, was double; as were also those on the east and 
the weist ends. Of course no chimney was needed; for all 



173 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

heat received by the long-suffering congregation, came from 
hot bricks, footstoves, and the fires of their enthusiasm. 
Each pew was a high, square, uncomfortable enclosure, with 
doors, a cushionless bench on two sides, and high railings 
around the top. A gallery ran along three sides of the 
church — here the unhappy Indians were posted — reached by 
stairs on either hand of the front door : tlie flight in the east 
corner being known as "ye Women's Stares ;" and that in the 
west, as "ye Men's Stares." The walls of the house were 
bordered by a single tier of pews ; next within these, a narrow 
aisle went round, enclosing and giving access to the spacious 
centre pews occupied by tlie squires and gentry of the parish ; 
through these, from the front door, stretched a broad aisle to 
the foot of the pulpit stairs. This oldtime mercy-seat was 
placed at the back of the church — a lofty antique structure: 
which, by raising the minister above his flock 

"Aloft in awful state," 
gave added dignity to his presence ; and with its huge sound- 
ing-board, increased the volume of his voice tenfold. To 
this place — Sunday after Sunday, winter and summer, year 
in and year out — came the faithful band to twist their aching 
toes in. decorous silence through the lengthy prayer and still 
longer sermon, till the endurance of minister and people 
failed. There was no instrumental music ; and the little vocal 
music they had, consisted of Puritan psalm tunes — made yet 
more dreary by the practice, then universal, of "deaconing" 
hymns. No wonder the children took cold, and sickened 
and died of consumption and like diseases: no wonder the 
youngsters grew restless; and tithingmen were told off "to 
see that the Boys — poor fellows — be still and regular in time 
of Divine exercises." 

The space for pews was sold, by public auction, at from 
£10 to £35 a pew: these were then built by the owners; and 
amounted to over thirty in number, exclusive of the space 
reserved for Indians. The list of proprietors comprises the 
following names : Henry Josselyn, Jonathan Crooker, Aaron 
Soule, Joseph Stockbridge, Isaac Wadsworth, Isaac Taylor, 



174 



THE FIRST CHUECH IN PEMBROKE 

John and Icbabod and Elisha Bonney, Thomas and Francis 
and Ebenezer Barker, heirs of Isaac Thomas, Isaac Little, 
Nehemiah Cushing, Barnabas Perry. John Foord, Jolm Keen, 
Josiah Hatch, Abraham Pearce, Israel Turner, Joseph 
Chandler, Isaac Tiibbs, Elijah Cushing, Josiah Bishop, 
Elisha Bisbee, Plphraim Nichols, Jacob Mitchell, Daniel 
Lewis, Josiah and Benjamin Keen, Joseph Ford, and Samuel 
Jacob. From every village and outlying farmstead they 
came, with unfailing constancy, to hear a gospel which told 
more of the torments of Hell than the delights of Heaven, 
and sought to terrify rather than to charm : a message harsh 
but well-pleasing to these stern warriors against heathendom 
and the Wilderness; and one most apt to train up children 
who should raise England's banner above the turrets of 
Quebec, and stain with free blood the bleak plain and snowy 
jiillsides of ever-hallowed A^'alley Forge. 

The Reverend Daniel Lewis was at first little inclined to 
soften the hard dogmas of salvation for the elect and eternal 
damnation for the many. Trained in a strict though for 
those days liberal school of theology, he showed himself in 
the pulpit a stanch disciple of Calvin. His sermons, how- 
ever, were little at variance with the taste of his hearers : and 
in private life he is reputed to have been a man of cheerful 
temperament; fond of joking his people, and highly esteemed 
by them as a neighbour and as a minister. He became 
know to fame through his love for horses, and richly enjoyed 
passing a parishioner on the road. His salary varied con- 
siderably with the need or abundance of his parish: in 1719 
he was settled here for life at £80 annually; in 1733 the 
Town voted to make his salarj' £150 "for one year and no 
more." No serious trouble occurred during his ministry; 
which ended only with his death, having covered the now- 
adays unparalleled period of over forty years. He died 39 
June 1753, having survived by eighteen days only his "vir- 
tuous consort" Elizabeth : and his funeral sermon was 
preached from the text "Daniel, a man greatly beloved." 

Late in the ministry of Mr. Lewis occurred the separation 



176 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OP PEMBROKE 

of the West Parish. This region — colonized first by Isaac and 
Nathaniel Thomas, and later by Elijah Gushing — had become 
an important district; its centre was some miles distant from 
either Pembroke or Bridgewater meeting-honse, and the vil- 
lage was amply able to support a minister of its own. About 
1745 the question of separation was agitated, at first with 
little success : the parent church was reluctant to lose some of 
her strongest supporters ; and it was rightly felt that such a 
division would intensify disagreements between the east-em 
and the western sections of the town. At length a decision 
was taken, and a meeting-house erected on the northern ex- 
tremity of Bonney Hill: on 19 May, 1746, the Town declared 
the bound between the two precincts a line drawn perpendic- 
ular to a line connecting their respective meeting-houses "at 
a point eighty rods west of the centre of said line measured 
by the road." Apparently this pretty problem in mensuration 
})roved too much for the Town surveyor; for, in July follow- 
ing, the bound was changed to be "a south line, beginning 
four rods down stream below the new Forge so called, and 
thence extending southerly to Halifax line." Still another 
bound is appointed by the act of incorporation, passed 6 
August 1746. 

The first minister of the new parisli was the Reverend Gad 
Hitchcock, of Revolutionary fame; who proved himself a 
strong spiritual and political leader for this part of Pem- 
broke. The boldness of his great Election Sermon, delivered 
in presence of Governor Gage, and his distinguished services 
in the State Constitutional Convention, are matters of his- 
tory. Although his biography rightfully belongs to the an- 
nals of the West Parish, I venture to introduce here an anec- 
dote which the Doctor himself used to tell with keen appre- 
ciation. It chanced one day that he was returning from Bos- 
ton by stage coach with a solitary companion. Rendered 
desperate by the Doctor's silent meditation during much of 
the journey, the other addressed him: "I'm so-and-so; now, 
who are you ?" — "Why, sir, I am Gad Hitchcock, of Tunk, at 
your service." — "^'al, I snum, that's the three homeliest 



176 






n 

c 







THE FIEST CHURCH IN PEMBROKE 

names I ever did hear; and now I think on't, you're as 
homely as any !" But if the good Doctor's name was un- 
musical, he soon made it a watchword with the friends of 
liberty and justice throughout the Old Colony and large part 
of the Commonwealth. 

Pembroke church in 1750 had seen about a century and a 
half of existence. Having started with the company of 
Separatists at Scrooby, it passed over to Leyden in 1607; and 
ten years later, made a still longer pilgrimage to Plymouth 
in 1630. Before 1630 the settlement at Duxbury had been 
made; and shortly afterward, a branch of the Pilgrim churcli 
established there. From this body the church in Pembroke 
had broken off in 1712, and was flourishing after forty years 
of separate existence. It now entered upon its most pros- 
perous })eriod, under the ministry of a man remarkable alike 
for leam?ng and sound common-sense. In 1754 the Rever- 
end Thomas Smith was ordained as Mr. Lewis' successor. 

Thoinas Smith was a graduate of Harvard, and had 
preached at Yarmouth for a space of twenty-five years: his 
religious views were now so advanced and liberalized that he 
could not honestly remain in his former parish; but was an 
acceptable relief to Pembroke from the stricter Calvinism of 
Mr. Lewis. He removed at once from Yarmouth to Pem- 
broke with his family; built the low gambrel-roof house 
which stood, until a few years ago. nearly opposite the Judge 
Whitman place ; and prepared to spend the rest of his days in 
Pembroke. He was a scholar of great attainments, and a 
minister who commanded the love and respect of his people. 
Many are the stories told of his kindly nature, and his quick 
appreciation of wit. 

Once he took tea at the house of a notable cook; and of 
course the best was set before the minister: the hostess, 
expecting a compliment, chose to depreciate her food, and 
said, "Mr. Smith, let me give you some very poor apple pie." 
—"No, madam, I thank you," responded Mr. Smith, "but I 
never eat poor pie;" and much mortified, she could not per- 
suade him to touch it. His criticism upon a sermon read to 



177 



ANCIENT LANDMAEKS OF PEMBEOKE 

him by his colleague, Mr. Wliitman, which began with a long 
preamble, was: "Very good; but your porch is larger than 
your house." It was said of him, while preaching at 
Yarmouth, that he could preach a sermon an hour long in 
twenty minutes. He was a profound Hebrew scholar, and 
very absent-minded — so much so that once, returning from 
some meeting at Hingham, he drove home the wrong horse; 
and failed to discover his mistake till next day, when the 
owner came for it. "VMien the minister came to call at his 
son's house, the children were ranged around the room in the 
most solemn manner, and not allowed to speak : for, although 
their Grandpa, he was still the Minister; and none must be 
too familiar: yet he always had a smile and a kind word for 
all. He said to his children: "I am content to bear noise 
and headache at any time to gratify you; and shall think 
myself happy, if none of you do anything to make my heart 
ache." It is related of Mr. Smith that he had a dog which 
always accompanied him to church, and behaved as a pious 
dog should, except on the day the singing quarrel was at its 
height; when he barked furiously. 

The popularity of Mr. Smith was shown conclusively in 
the numbers and devotion of his congregations. Old resi- 
dents have told us strange tales of days when the only seats 
to be had in the Meeting House were on the gallery stairs. 
The long needed addition came in 1763. As early as 1741, 
the Town had very wisely refused to let John Keen, Junior, 
"cut a door out of his pew through the Meeting House." 
They now ensured a symmetrical exterior by providing plenty 
of room within for passageways as well as for pews. At a 
Precinct meeting held in January, 1763, it was "Voted to 
Inlarge the Meeting House By Putting a Piece of fourteen^ 
feet in the Midle and to New Cover the Same Meaning the 
Wliol House With good Shingle New Window frames Sashes 
and Glas Set in Wood With Water tables New front Doers 
and proper fruntes Piece to gether Withal Needfull Eepaiers 
as Well things not mentioned as Mentioned Provided it May 
be Done Well and Workman Like And allso to Eepare the 



178 



THE FIRST CHURCH IN PEMBROKE 

Square Part of the Spire and make a New Walk on Sd Square 
Said House Painted in Manner as Marsh field Meeting House 
the Spier Included and their Must be a Proper Passage ^V'ay 
to get into the four Pews in the front gallery the said Hous 
to be Shingled With Pine Shingles Without Sap or good 
Ceder Shingle: Voted that the undertakers Shall not Sell 
Neither of the Pews out of the Preceinct the undertakers to 
Have all the Stuf taken of of Sd House: Voted yt Capt 
Benjamin Turner Mr Aaron Soul Mr John Turner Be a 
Precinct Commity to Agre AVith Sum Person or Persons to 
go on With the Sd Meeting House agreable to the Above Sd 
Vote and to See that the Worke Be Completed Workman 
Like" 

It was in the course of Mr. Smith's ministry at Pembroke 
that the famous singing quarrel occurred. Upon his eldest 
son, Deacon Josiah, devolved the duty of "deaconing" the 
hymns — a duty he evidently enjoyed ; for, when the young 
people wished to change the style of singing, he refused to 
give up his position. The minister took sides against his 
deacon. Affairs at this time became very seditious, and civil 
war seemed imminent. Rev. Thomas proved himself equal 
to the occasion. The climax came on Sunday ; when the new 
choir stationed itself in a pew below, the old choir occupying 
the gallery. The minister gave out the hynm : the new choir 
began one tune; and the old choir, another — after being 
"deaconed" by Josiah. Then the minister arose, and said, 
"Josiah, sit down." Josiah attempted to protest by saying 
it was a vote of the Parish for him to read. "I don't care if 
it is," said the parson. "I command here myself: by and by, 
the clods in yonder church-yard will cover me ; then you can 
do as you please : now I command myself : sit down. !" That 
ended thet singing quarrel. 

Perhaps the minister's share in this reform may have been 
the occasion of a certain ecclesiastical skirmish, otherwise of 
indefinite date, mentioned by Rev. Morrill Allen in his sketch 
of Pembroke's political history. Having spoken of the 
Revolutionary period, Mr. Allen continues: "After political 



179 



ANCIENT LANDMAEKS OF PEMBROKE 

parties were organized and acted in opposition to each other, 
the leaders of the party called Federals, were Briggs, Gush- 
ing, Hitchcock, Hobart, Turner, and lATiitman; of the party 
called Republicans, Barker, Collamore, Hall, Hatch, and 
Torrey. Of the leading living men we will not venture to 
write, lest we should coroe under the censure that was once 
cast on the minister of the place: a serious difficulty had 
occurred in the parish, the minister was conversing with a 
neighbor on the subject, and said the principal men thought 
such a course of measures would conduce to the peace and 
welfare of the parish; the neighbor replied, — 'I would have 
you know, Mr. Smith, there are more principal men in this 
parish than you suppose.' " 

The life of Mr. Smith was lengthened out to the good old 
age of eighty-two ; and he continued to preach until his death, 
which occurred 7 July 1788. During the last year, he had 
quite lost his sight, and was assisted by a colleague, the 
Reverend Kilborn AAHiitnian; who became his successor. Of 
his large family of twelve children, several remained in Pem- 
broke, were prominent in public life and military affairs, 
and left to their posterity a noble character and a 
distinguished name. Their history has been written by Miss 
Susan A Smith, forjuerly of North Pembroke — granddaugh- 
ter of Thomas Smith's sixth son, Nathaniel. 

Soon after IMr. Smith's settlement at Pembroke, began 
the famous chain of events which was to result in the 
independence of these English produces. The minister of 
Pembroke was a stanch patriot, and upheld steadfastly the 
rights of the colonies: but when the Revolution broke out, 
he had already reached the allotted three score and ten ; and 
enthusiasm for the great enterprise was supplied by Doctor 
Hitchcock, minister of the West Parish. Between the years 
1765 and 1775, there took place in Pembroke a seriejs of 
famous town meetings — held, as were most others until 1786, 
in the East Meeting House. It is recorded that, from 1786 
on, evea-y third meeting was held within the limits of the 
West Precinct. 



180 



THE FIRST CHURCH IN PEMBROKE 

In the autumn of 1765, the town was startled by news of 
the famous Stamp Act; and on Monday, 21 October, 1765, 
a meeting was called to take action. This came to no 
decision; but left the matter in the hands of a committee, 
and adjourned until evening. Just after nightfaii, the 
citizens came together in the old Meeting House, dimly 
ligiited by the unsteady flames of a few candles; and listened 
to the report of the committee. Excitement was teoise: 
feeling that a crisis was at hand, the Town adopted — •'by a 
great majority of votes" — a resolution instructing their 
representative in General Court to use his utmost endeavor 
"to Pospone the introduction of said Act, until the unitted 
cries of the Wliole Continant may have Reachd the ears of 
our most gracious King and the Parliment of Grate Brittain, 
and shall obtain from them, who wish neither the death ror 
loss of their colonies, an answer of Peace." 

Years passed: the Stamp Act was repealed; but a course 
of oppressive measures followed in its train, until at last 
public opinion would endure no more. In December of 177^ 
— three years before the war broke out, and four years before 
independence was resolved upon — a great meeting of all the 
townspeople was held in the Meeting House, and a resolution 
adopted whose every clause bears witness to the keen foresight 
and un\n[elding patriotism of its authors. After an array of 
British acts of oppression and the rights thereby infringed, 
and a strong statement of the relations which ought to sub- 
sist between Great Britain and her colonies, the Resolution 
closes as follows, more in sorrow than in anger: ''Resolved 
that if the measures so justly complained of by this province 
are prei=isted in and enforced by fleets and Armies they must 
—we think of it with pain — they will in a little time issue in 
the Total Dissolution of the union between mother country 
and the Colonies to the infinight loss of the Former and 
regret of the Latter." These words are reputed to be the 
first public declaration contemplating political independence 
of Europe issued by an American assembly. We cannot 
but regret that the noble record which contains them, is 



181 



ANCIENT LANDMAEKS OF PEMBROKE 

marred by a vote, passed in 1783, discriminating against the 
unhapp} Tories. 

The successor of Mr. Smith was Eeverend Kilborn — later 
Judge — \\Tiitman, ordained 12 December 1787 : he continued 
to preach in Pembroke until 13 Ottpmber 179l', and wos 
suocicded in 1798 by Reverend Jimes Hawley. Mr. Hawley 
died soon after ; his gravestone is in Die cemetery : 

HtRE LIES THE BODY OF EEY JAMES >IAW- 
LEY PASTOR OF THE FIRST CHURCH IN 
PEMBROKE ORDAINED MAY'' 23D 1798 WHO 
DIED AT BARNSTABLE OCTOBER 8TH 1800 
AGED 31 YEARS 

He was followed in 1801 by Rev. Morrill Allen, ordained 
December the ninth; who continued as minister through 
forty years, residing at Allen Farm not far from the church. 
The knoll whereon his house stands, was commonly called 
"Dancing Hill" : for there — said village tradition — had been 
held, from time immemorial, the yea.rly corn-dance and other 
merrymakings of the Mattakese. 

Soon after 1800 began in Pembroke the gradual separation 
of church and state. The Town Record for 1809 gives us, in 
a code of by-laws for the conduct of town meetings, aa in- 
teresting picture of the good old days when the Meeting 
House was still the natural headquarters for transaction of all 
public business: "The Citizens shall be Seated except when 
preparing and giving in their Votes : they shall None of them 
Sit on top of the Benches or Pews : they may Stand or Sit 
and do private Business in the Wall Pews in the front of 
the Meeting House and the He adjoining : the broad He and 
the alleys leading from the Pulpit to either end Door shall 
be Clear and occupied by the Constables of the Town, and by 
None Other." 

Such scenes were soon to be no more. In 1819 the Parish 
Committee was instructed to admonish the Selectmen that 
the Town's stock of powder must be removed from the Meet- 
ing House. The reason for this action is not wholly clear: 



182 



THE FIRST CHURCH IN PEMBROKE 

there can have been but little danger from fire, since not 
until 1823 was the building provided with a stove and pipes. 
It is probable that, with the growth of other religious 
societies, the line between Parish and Tomti had been yearly 
becoming more sharply defined. In 1833 the Town paid the 
Parish for the use of the church as a place of public meeting. 
In the autumn of that year, the Rubicon was crossed. As 
Jate as 1818, the Parish tax had been collected by the Town 
collector. Now the church ceased to receive support from 
public taxation, and had henceforth to rely wholly on tho 
system of voluntary subscriptions. 

For a time, thanks to the gieat regard in which Mr. Allen 
was held, its prosperity suffered little from the change. A 
farmer himself, the "Old Man of Dancing Hill" became 
extremely popular with his farmer neighbours, and entered 
heartily and sympathetically into their joys and sorrows. No 
man loved better than he those gleams of rustic wit that 
light up a tedious day of labor in field or garden. His men 
were served regularly with their customary ele\'en o'clock and 
four o'clock, and thereby hangs a tale. One afternoon, as 
Mr. Allen passed to Peleg Cook a rather scant three fingers 
of rum, "Peleg," said he, "that liquor is twenty years old." 
Peleg squinted through his glass agaijist the sunset: "Par- 
son," he responded, " 'tis devilish small of its age !" It is 
noteworthy that the first temperance reformer in the villagt- 
was not its minister, but its physician — Doctor Anthony 
Collamore of North Pembroke; who stopped the practice of 
dramming on his fann, when he became convinced that it 
\\a& injurious alike to mind and body. 

Late in Mr. Allen's ministry the present meeting house 
was built. Towards autumn of 1S36, the old structure which, 
through its long history of a hundred and ten years, had 
heard the discourses of Lewis, and witnessed grave delibera- 
tion and fiery eloquence in Revolutionar}^ days, was 
condemned, and ordered to be taken dowoi. The order was 
passed on December nineteenth. In Januarv following, the 
Parish granted certain proprietors liberty to build a new 



183 



ANCIENT LANDMAEKS OF PEMBEOKE 

meeting-house, with all the privileges necessary for that 
purpose. Tn April the old house went at auction, for $155, 
to Christopher Oakman of Marsh field. The present building 
was erected upon its site: and unlike its predecessor, was 
surmounted by a large, square belfry to the east; which rose 
high in air above the windy hill of Pembroke Centre, com- 
manding a wide view of the upper valley of North River and 
the stretches of evergreen forest beyond. The interior has 
been little changed. There was a high old-style pulpit at the 
back, flanked by pews on either side: and a narrow gallery 
above the entrance ; where were stationed the choir and, later, 
the organ. Clock and bell Avere installed in the belfry. 

After the resignation of Mr. Allen in 1841, minister 
followed minister in quick succession. Joshua Chandler, the 
next pastor, was dismissed in 1844; and left behind him a 
reputation for eccentricity unsurpassed. We hear of wonder- 
ful "^'pulpit handkerchiefs," and prayers that would have 
wearied a follower of the Prophet. Said Mr. Allen on the 
fiftieth anniversary of his ordination : "We feel confident that 
if, in those yeai's. a )nan had been settled who possessed 
decent pulpit talents, and whose deportment and conversation 
in social life had been tolerable ; he might have remained in 
office till the weaknesses of age should have admonished him 
of the propriety of resigning." That dismissal, however, cost 
the Parish some of its most active and influential members. 
Numbers continued to decrease, and subscriptions to wane; 
until Mr. Allen could say, with sorrow, in 1851 : "Allow me 
to hope that the members of this society will brace themselves 
to the work of its support. Here where sweet counsel was 
taken with your fathers, and where we walked in company to 
the house of Cod for the space of forty years, let me not be 
afflicted, in old age, with sorrowful evidence that the altar of 
so many prayers, confessions, and praises, is to be deserted: 
the place left desolate where Lewis in unwearied labours 
from a small beginning built up a respectable church and 
society ; where the good work was continued by his succes- 
cors Smith, Whitman, and Hawley, down to the time when 
the speaker engaged in the responsible task, 1801." 



184 



THE FIRST CHURCH IN PEMBROKE 

Rev. Preserved Smith was minister 1845-1849; and Rev. 
William L. Stearns, lSoO-18,56. Tn 1856 the Parish accepted 
from the Proprietors all their rioht, title, and interest in the 
iVleeting House and its lot. William Bicknell during his 
pastorate. 1857-1861, took upon himself the adornment of 
the Common, hitherto bare and neglected; and out of the 
fullness of his heart, planted our famous Pine Trees, whose 
merits have lately come into the limelight of public dis- 
cussion. Rev. Theophilus Pipon Doggett was the next 
minister, and continued from 1861 till 1874. He was a 
scholarly and cultivated man; and though his best work had 
been done before he came to this place, was much liked as a 
preacher. He kept a private .school on the site of the present 
parsonage, and many anecdotes are told of him by liis pupils. 

In the course of his ministry occurred the Organ Quarrel 
— hardly less disastrous to the society than its forerunner of 
a century earlier. In the autumn of 1868, a tine organ was 
presented to the parish, through the enterprise of the Organ 
Fund Society. It proved at first productive of more discord 
than harmony in the Meeting House. Several prominent 
parishioners seceded ; and for this impatriotic act, were 
scored by the Parish Committee in their report for 1869 : 
"We are satisfied to take the lowest seat in the synagog, and 
labour there as best we can. But we cannot afford to leave 
the ancient citadell, the honoured Temple where our Farthers 
loved to worship: for the sake of the few ancient patriarks 
who love to view it from afar, and those who enter its portals 
for christian consolation and strength in their declining years, 
will we sustain it; for our own, and the generations' who are 
to come after us, will we love, cherish, and sustain it." 

Rev. Jesse Temple was Mr. Doggett's successor; and 
though intemperance soon unfitted him for the work of the 
iiinistrv', we must gratefully remember him and Mrs. Tem- 
ple as the founders of our reading club and library. In 1875 
ihe Parish admitted women to membership. 

The immediate successors of Mr. Temple in the ministry 
are as f oUows : — 



186 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

Rev. J. H. Collins: 1877-1880 

Rev. J. M. W. Pratt: 1881-1885 

Rev. Henry Dana Dix : 1885-1887 

Rev. Mr. Gardner: 1888 

Rev. William H. Fish- 1888-1889 

R«v. Mr. Barnhill: 1889 

Rev. Mr. Perkins: 1890 

Rev. Mr. Thompson : 1890 

Rev. Mr. Bninton: 1891-1893 

Rev Stanley M. Hunter- 1892-1893 

In a heavy tempest, 8 April 1893, the belfry of the church 
was struck by lightning; which set fire to the wood-work, 
dismantled clock and organ, shook down the ceiling, and left 
ihe whole front in ruins. The lire was put out by a heavy 
lainfall: and steps were at once taken to repair the remaining 
damage. At this time the high pulpit was lowered; the 
gallery walled up : and the south-western corner of the house, 
next the pulpit, made an organ loft. Services were held 
throughout the summer in the Town Hall, and in the autumn 
the church was rededicated. During 1894 Rev. Martha Ait- 
ken was its minister. 

In the spring of 1895, the parish called to its pulpit Rev. 
Edward C. Guild ; who preached about a year. He was a man 
of high scholarship and character: rich in human sympathy, 
and deeply read in literature : and his short stay here won for 
him the devotion of all his acquaintance. The remaining 
years of his life were, for the most part, spent in Germany^ 
he died in BostoD, 6 November, 1899. 

He was followed, in 1S96, by Rev. John W. Barker: who 
preached until the fall of 1897, when he removed to Water- 
viile in Maine. During 1898 and 1899, Rev. Charles W. 
Casson was minister: Mr, Barker returned to preach during 
1900. The year 1901 was an interregnum of candidates. 

Early in 1902, Rev. IFenry A. Westall — a native of Caro- 
lina, and a graduate of Tufts College and Harvard Divinity 
School — became the twentieth minister of Pembroke. His 
resignation, which terminated a pastorate among us of five 



186 



THE FIRST CHURCH IN PEMBROKE 

years, took effect at the close of 1906. A practical man of 
scholarly attainments, Mr. Westall possessed from the first 
ihe respect and good-will of his fellow townsmen. He has 
guided this ancient church within sight of its two hundredth 
milestone. In scholarship, breadth of view, and true liberal- 
ism; in feeling for the vital things of belief; and in the 
sincerity and s}Tnpathy with which he spoke to us, the 
Fathers of old must have held him a worthy successor to the 
pidpit honoured in former times by Lewis, Smith, Whitman, 
and Allen. 

Since Mr. Westall's resignation, the services have been 
conducted by students of Harvard Divinity School. During 
the summer of 1907 Rev. Palfrey Perkins of Salem fulfilled 
the duties of pastor with very great success. Memorable are 
the vesper services; charge of which he shared with Rev. 
Harold G. Arnold, now minister of Bridgewater. After his 
return to Cambridge, Mr. Perkins most kindly continued to 
direct the supply of the pulpit: and the church, numbering 
its bicentennial, remains in his care. 

These last years have seen the retirement from active 
service of our venerable sexton, Henry Baker. During the 
space of more than half a century, his hand has opened the 
meeting-house of a Sunday: wound the clock; tinkered the 
organ ; and rung the ponderous bell in the ceaseless clanging 
of alarm, the full measured strokes of the public meeting, or 
in the slow and broken tolling appropriate to the burial of 
the dead. It has always been the first pleasure of natives of 
Pembroke returning home after long absence, to recognize 
in the church doorway the familiar figure of Mr. Baker : and 
to hear, from his lips, some old-time anecdote by everyone 
else long since forgotten, or — it might be — a modem story of 
equal power. Few men have ever more truly endeared them- 
selves to a village than did Henry Baker; and his death was 
a grief and loss as great as his life had been a blessing. In 
closing for a while these histories, I cannot do better than 
acknowledge the generous contributions I owe to him, and 
thank him for them. 



187 



ANCIENT LANDMARKS OF PEMBROKE 

Clasp, Angel of the backward looJc 
And folded winqs of ashen gray 
And voice of echoes far away. 
The brazen covers of thy book; 
The weird palimpsest old and vast 
Wherein thmi hid'st the spectral past; 
Where, closely mingled, pale and glow 
The characters of jop and luoe; 
The monographs of outlived years 
Or smile-illumed or dim with tears. 

Green hills of life that slope to death, 
And haunts of home, whose vistaed trees 
Shade off to mournful cypresses 

With the white amaranths underneath. 
Even ivhile I look, I can but heed 

The restless sands' incessant fall, ^ 
Importunate hours that hours succeed. 
Each clamorous with its own sharp need. 

And duty keeping pace with all. 
Shut down and clasp the heavy lids; 
I hear again the voice th.at bids 
The dreamer leave his dream midway 
For larger hopes and graver fears : 
Life greatens in these later years; 
The century's aloe flowers today! 



,^ 188 



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